Hyper Japan Haul

Hyper Japan is by far one of my favourite conventions in the U.K. It has a special place in my heart as it was this con that I took my close friend Vee to when it was hosted at the O2, a few years ago. I also met my best friend, Parry in the winter convention when it was hosted at Tobacco Dock. For me, Hyper Japan has been one of the best places to learn about Japanese culture and trends and meet a wide range of companies.

I used to be an avid collector of plushies, especially Pokemon ones. At the moment, I feel like I have all the plushies I want and I have over 100 in my room. There was plenty of Pokemon plushies in the stalls. If I have any regrets with conventions in the past, it’s that there’s more to conventions than just then just the shopping.

Still, I think I’ve had an impressive haul and think I’ve done well this time.

First Purchase

My first purchase was my Sylveon hat. I ordered one to arrive but it didn’t come so it was super handy to see one as Sylveon was who I wanted to cosplay as in Hyper Japan. It’s been a lot more fun going in dressed up than in normal clothes. Glad I bought this hat. I think I will give my friend Vee my Sylveon hat I ordered from eBay—she loves the Eeveelutions.

Books

I already had volume 1 of Your Name and the film is stunning. Even before watching the film, I knew it would be great. And the manga, from what I’ve read so far, seems faithful to the film.

I like the anime Made In Abyss and already bought Volume 2 at Comic Con so I’m glad I managed to pick up Volume 1 here.

I first got into Citrus when I bought the first four volumes in a comic shop in Amsterdam. Been hooked on Yuzu and Mei’s relationship ever since.

Origami Rabbit

Hyper Japan had a maid cafe in there which was really faithful to the atmosphere of one I’ve been to in Tokyo. One of the things the maid did for me besides serving me the most delicious lattes I’ve ever had was teach me how to make an origami rabbit. I feel proud.

Hand Clapper Thing

They gave these out during Ladybeard’s DJ session on Saturday. They were £8 on Saturday and reduced to £5 on Sunday. I don’t know if we were meant to give them back though. It was a great condiment for the DJ session.

All Together from Day 1 and 2

Along with the other stuff, I bought some pins, a fan for my aunt, some tea, and some eeveelution prints. I love the little blue notebook with Sailor Mercury. My favourite purchase out of all is my Princess Maker art book which contains art from all the games in the series with a bigger focus on the first and third game.

Small Haul from Day 3

Only bought a few things in day three, but they’re still awesome gets. There was a stall dedicated to Korean products and it blasted BTS tunes on the radio. I hovered there a bit longer when Fake Love played.

I picked up a lovely book called Inspire Me Korea’s Secret Travel Guide to South Korea for £7 and got two extras. One was the beautiful traditional Korean greeting card and the other was the adorable My Melody magnet.

It’s no big secret that the Japanese kitkats are expensive here. But we are willing to pay for them even though they are a third of the size as the ones we have in the U.K. On their own in Tofu Cute they are £1.20 each. This pack of 6 was £4 and on the sticker it says they are worth £7. A pack of 12 are normally a tenner.

The lemon stars from Sweet Japan Kohakuto were £3. The wasabi was given as a freebie for all those who attended the wasabi burger show on Sunday.

As for the ramune, stall prices varied from £2 to £3 each with discounts in bulk. A stranger gave me a bottle of ramune for free. To the kind gentleman who did that: thank you very much whoever you are.

Overall a very good haul. I wonder what my next convention haul will bring me next?