Japan Park Singapore 2018

Japan Park Singapore 2018

Sunday, August 5, 2018 / No Comments

Photo from JPSG page

Amuse Entertainment Singapore, Bushiroad, OJ Events, WAttention, and SOZO have come together to present an ambitious agglomeration of all things Japan. 

The focus that sets their event apart from other Japanese conventions is the attempt to combine both the culture and tradition side of Japan with the urban pop-culture and more technological sides of Japan under one roof. From booths that spread awareness about the various prefectures of Japan (ranging from lesser known parts to already famous places) to the 'Mini CharaExpo' section which mainly featured popular turn-based card playing games, the set-up was already vastly different from the likes of AFA. 

As one that has always tried to participate as much as possible in an event, I was only able to be there for the morning and a little of the afternoon so your mileage might have varied depending on what time you got there, I hear it got a lot more crowded toward as the day got on. But for my time there, I had a rather unhampered view of everything and a comfortable experience walking around.

Entering the convention, visitors were greeted with a line of Torii gate replicas followed by information boards of the different prefectures in Japan. Great if you're looking for some bite-sized information on things like the most famous food from that prefecture, and also not a bad photo opportunity.

View from my seat...

The first stage performance was already ending as I entered the hall, but I stayed for the second performance which was by 'Sendai Suzume Odori', though performing to a small crowd of early weekend rises, the performers put on a great show with smiles and enthusiasm, the colours and music, together with graceful flips of the fan, made it an enjoyable dance to watch.

Japanese singer Kiwako Ashimine

A big part of this Japan Park was also the food, with numerous food stalls hailing from different restaurants from Japan who have set up branches here in Singapore. Payment for the food stalls was through an e-payment credit system via an RFID chip tagged to your entrance wristband which you could top-up at a kiosk. Initially, I was skeptical about this system, it sounded tedious and clunky, but the top-up and payment was surprisingly a breeze. I was tapping my way to a wagyu katsu sando (sandwich) sort of lunch, with a side of Japanese peaches and vanilla ice cream. 

There was also the trademark Keisuke ramen which senpai Max had tried(normally found at every WAttention event) and other lesser seen sights at these events, like a mentaiko pasta bowl and onigiri. Prices were reasonable for an event, and the food was decent. 

Interactive stalls, attracted more attention than the regular booths, and I felt that more booths should have been set-up similarly, especially those that were promoting a smaller or lesser-known prefecture. Most of the booths were manned by the Japanese with the help of one or two Singaporean volunteers, which was a good move, and lent to the authenticity of the event. Through the booths, I discovered this new town near Okayama called Ehime, promoted as a cycling town, it sounds like a place I would check out on my next visit to Japan.

Not me, but the guy at the booth~ it's harder than it looks

I did try throwing shurikens at a target at the Koka booth which was supposed to be promoting a ninja town in Japan. 

Gold Leaf

Japan is my favorite travel destination

Calligraphy

There were mini-workshops as well, like this 'Gold Leaf workshop' or live calligraphy sessions, which I appreciated and felt that it did bring something unique to the convention, but some were not very prominently advertised. Perhaps in the next year workshop events could have a section on its own.

Japan Park also featured Mitsubishi Motors and Sony, both of which featured their latest cars and cameras respectively. 

The 'Mini-CharaExpo' section was meant to capture the youths to this convention, other than devoting a large section to the popular card trading games, Love Live! and BanG Dream! Fans of other fandoms would have found this lacklustre. Understandably, Japan Park organisers wouldn't have wanted this to turn into another AFA or CharaExpo, but the way they have scaled down the pop-culture section to ensure a good balance with the other booths still needs refinement. I have no doubt that should this event continue, the organisers would be able to find that balance. 

Bad picture... I was standing at the back...

Rounding out my event experience, was Joseph Schooling, who was scheduled for a short appearance at the main stage. He shared about his Olympic dream, achieving goals, and his new swimming school here in Singapore. But more importantly, his training toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Perhaps, a little strange to find Schooling at a Japanese culture event like this one, but since the event was also touted with a family angle (there was a kids section, which yours truly couldn't participate in) and with the Tokyo Olympics looming ahead, it made sense after some thought. 

Our dear founder Max^^

Cute Ehime Mascot - another reason why I'm planning a trip there~

Did I enjoy this convention? Overall, it's a yes, it was a rare convention that tried to bring the best sides of Japan together, with sufficient space to walk and breathe, and booths with friendly people that I could talk to and learn something new. Perhaps not quite right for anime/manga fans yet, but Japanese culture enthusiasts could probably find something that they would be interested in. Hopefully, they bring Japan Park back again next year with more refinements to an ambitious concept.

Till the next event~

Thanks to all these wonderful people who brought us Japan Park Singapore

Written by Neko

Figure Unboxing and Review: Super Sonico's 10 Year Anniversary Figure - Wedding Sonico (Assembly)

Figure Unboxing and Review: Super Sonico's 10 Year Anniversary Figure - Wedding Sonico (Assembly)

Tuesday, July 24, 2018 / No Comments

Warning: Slight NSFW!

As mentioned in my review post, there's just a lot of steps for assembly of this figure, and this instruction sheet helps to put the mass of it into perspective. From the first half of the sheet, we see the different parts Sonico comes with, and shows how the different parts of the base are supposed to be attached.

The second half of the sheet illustrates how to change the faceplates, attach the bouquet, and cast off the figure. However, I do feel that this was insufficient as there are a lot of points for assembly that was left out, and I'm here to address some of them that I found during my own assembly.

First, let's look at the assembly for the base. It comes with a red staircase which Sonico would stand on, and a gold ornament behind her which consists of a golden crescent, and an arc of golden stars, that would be held up by a metal pole.

On the back side of the crescent is a hole which you would attach the pole to in the manner illustrated by the image below. After which, the other end of the pole would be pushed into the peg hole at the back of the red staircase.

The last step would simply be to hook the stars into place.

The full base after assembly is seen in the image below. 

I'll write the flow of the assembly in the order which it's easiest to put her together. However, as I did it via trial and error, fret not, if you see some parts already assembled in the image. I'll get to it in words eventually.

The easiest flow I found to assemble the figure is as follows:

1. Put Sonico on the base

Sonico's body comes in three different parts: head, upper body, and lower body. The upper and lower body parts are connected via a rectangular peg, and two pegs at the ends of the garters that attach to the top of her stockings (peg holes in image below).

Make sure that the garters are out of the peg holes before detaching the body parts.

You would want to put the lower body on the base first, as it takes quite a bit of wiggling around to get her in the right angle to fit on the peg. You wouldn't want to do this when she is fully assembled, especially with the skirt part, as it makes maneuvering much more difficult.

Do not worry or push harder on the peg is you find that the peg doesn't fit into the peg hole on her sole--that probably just means that the angle is incorrect. You would want to tilt her at a different angle and try again until she simply slides onto the peg with ease.

2. Choose if you wish to put her skirt part on, or have it cast-off

The white part with the rectangular hole in the middle is the "string" part of her lingerie that you would be using if you intend on having Sonico displayed in lingerie only (essentially cast-off). To use this part, simply slide it onto the rectangular peg on her torso until it rests directly above the ruffles of her lingerie.

Ensure that it rests flush against the lingerie and any awkward gaps should be kept at a minimum. Simply keep pushing against it until it doesn't budge any further.

Most gaps that you see at this stage would be gone when you connect the upper body to the figure. Just remember to attach the garters to the top of the stockings. There are peg holes there to hold the garters in place. 

Do note that the "string" part should not be used in tandem with the "skirt" part.

They have the same rectangular peg hole and a white layer already attached to the top of the "skirt" part to create the top layer of the lingerie. This creates a similar hem effect as the "string" part, but without the strings as they would be hidden by the skirt anyway.

Using the two parts together creates unnecessary bulk (image below) and would result in a gap in the middle of the upper and lower body parts if you do.

If you choose to use the "skirt" part, do note that the flowers on the "skirt" part make it difficult if you were to put the skirt onto the lower body, then attach the upper body down on the peg as well. How I get over this is to actually place the upper body in place above the "skirt" part first, then place that whole part down the peg. 

This allows for easier manipulation to help the upper body fit better in place, and ensuring that the peg hole in the upper body and "skirt" part is properly aligned first.

3. Insert the bouquet

The bouquet comes in three parts: the stems, ribbon, and flowers.

Slide the stems into place between her fingers. Make sure that there is still some green part left above her fingers as that is where the white ribbon will sit at.

Next, simply attach the ribbon, by sliding it into place.

Attaching the flowers is the last step.

And while this may seem rather simple in theory but in practice, it is a little tricky for this figure. You might face some difficulty if you attempt to insert the bouquet only after the hair part is assembled. But, it becomes much easier to manage if you were to put the flower part in place before you attach her back hair part, so I would highly recommend doing it that way instead.

4. Choose the faceplate you prefer

Wedding Sonico comes with two faceplates: an embarrassed smile with her eyes opened (image above), or an expression with closed eyes and pursed lips as she awaits for her wedding kiss (image below).

I prefer the expression with her eyes open as I love the color for her eyes and thus, I will be using that faceplate for the rest of this article. Of course, my assembly instructions below will fit for the other faceplate as well.

5. Assemble her head parts (faceplate + hair)

Slide the faceplate of your choice down the peg at her neck (image above), then press the front hair part into place. In the image below, you can see where the neck peg attached to her faceplate. The faceplate also has a rectangular peghole that attaches to the back hair part. Similarly, her front hair part also has three pegs which would attach to her back hair part.

Press the back hair part into place, while ensuring to exercise caution around the bouquet as the bouquet is supposed to be in between strands of hair.

While the gradient of Sonico's back hair part might seem a little excessive currently, do remember that she still has a veil to put on, and it does even out quite well with the veil on!

 6. Put her veil on

The veil part already comes attached to the flowers and the only thing you have to do here is to attach the two beige pegs on the veil onto the peg holes on the top of Sonico's headphones. It is a very simple procedure and I didn't face any difficulties with this step at all.

With her veil in place, Sonico's head part is now all ready! If you have followed the assembly thus far, you would have a pretty and nicely assembled Wedding Sonico Figure all ready to be displayed! 

Congratulations!

Just don't forget to adjust her left hand so she is holding up her skirt instead of just grasping at thin air :) 

~ Reina-rin