UnCon-Eventional/UnExpo-Sitional Stories are event recaps more on the event itself than the experience.
Wonder what the event is like in the field? Check out, An Expo-sitional Story: Japan Expo 2019
Credits to the Japan Expo Malaysia Official Facebook for the featured image, and the various images seen in this post.
I DO NOT own the rights to any of these photos (If mentioned), ALL rights belong to Japan Expo Malaysia.
Introduction
Wew.
Did anyone notice that pretty much every weekend of July has an event? 👀
Even ones that are…down in Johor that we had to miss because timing. ._.
Ah well, the next mini will not be missed.
The FAQ is this?
Japan Expo Malaysia 2019 , as the name suggests, is an Expo featuring ALL THE Japanese related goodness on the last weekend of July, dating 26th to 28th.
We’re talking cultural stuff, performers from Japan and of course, plenty of stuff you’d expect to find at events. *cough*cosplayparade*cough*
All for Free.
YES, FREE!
…no, not the anime series, the word.
Hosted by the folks over at G-Yu Creative, Japan Expo Malaysia 2019 is the 3rd running show since 2017.
Which you might fondly remember as that event where uh…that Apple Pen guy came to town they featured PIKOTARO coming over to perform live.
That said, prepare yourself.
For a whole lot of Japan Expo-sition.
First Contact
Here’s an interesting plot point about Japan Expo Malaysia.
Apparently, they’d already planned this year’s show, all the way back in 2018. 👀
The ‘Thank you for coming” post seen on August 28th, 2018 also included the following,
Thank you everyone who attended Japan Expo Malaysia 2018 on 27th – 29th July at Pavilion KL! See you again next year!
Which would be followed up 6 months later on February 1st, with the first announcement of Japan Expo’s 2019 show.
Returning to the Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur on the weekend of July 26th to 28th, Japan Expo was certainly looking forward to return to action as fast as it ended. 👀
…which unfortunately clashed with a mini event somewhere in the South. D;
Registration Open Season
The closest thing that required registration was the highly anticipated Cosplay Parade party on July 28th.
Where cosplayers would gather up and…literally parade themselves around Pavilion.
All totally legal stuff that has happened before by the way, to certain parties using BS excuses to detain people. 👀
Lineup Starts Here
And what better folks to lead the parade on event day, than the 2 featured guest cosplayers from a rather recent event that went Supa well.
- Credits to Japan Expo Malaysia for the images
Starring both Thames Malerose from Thailand, and Yugana Senshi from Malaysia, some familiar faces to lead the parade downwards Pavilion Mall was something worth looking out for.
Cosplay Parade aside, plenty of other lineups await folks to explore up on the 6th floor.
- Credits to Japan Expo Malaysia for the images
We’re talking ALL the calls for studying in Japan.
Featuring colleges of all sorts to check out. 🤔
- Credits to Japan Expo Malaysia for the images
Whether you’re going for Toho (Not to be confused with Touhou) International College, Globis University, or the Language Schools of ISI or Shinjuku, there’s always a school to look into at the Japan Education Zone for Consultation.
But if education’s not you motive, there’s also TRAVELLING!
Over at the Travel & Prefecture Zone, the option of where you want to head over in Japan awaits.
Which could be good for the Tokyo Olympics next year. 🤔
- Credits to Japan Expo Malaysia for the image
Be it riding the Hato Bus, suited up with a Bic Camera over to the Home of Mt. Fuji, Shizuoka or Shikoku Tokushima.
Put on your tourist face and HM that teaches ‘Fly’, because the travel packages await.
Man, they really want people to head to Japan don’t they? 🤔
Anyways, up next comes the Mugen Style Collection.
The brand, not that fighting game emulator. 🤔🤔🤔
Starring a large lineup of both designers and models to take the catwalk by storm on Day 2, to the delight of squealing fans as they get to first hand observe fashion at its finest not Netflix Live Adaptation.
A great change of pace from watching/being forced to watch Project Runway on TV.
Last but not least, the performers.
It’s not a Japan Expo if there isn’t a Large pool of performing folks to get the attendees attending this event.
With that ONE act that gets everyone’s attention.
<insert Dr Strange gif here>
- Credits to Japan Expo Malaysia for the images
Announced on May 31st, this year’s massive feature introduces the first ever Live show of AKB 48, with terrifying crowd numbers showing up on Day 2 to witness this historic day.
For reasons that mostly involve us not wanting to get shot or yeeted by the public because we typed out the member’s names wrong, we’re going to skip that.
I mean…jeezus.
No wonder people love them, they start performing before they event get on stage!
Anyways, the AKB 48 team’s performance aside, what’s worth noting is the giveaway contest for towels, where 6 lucky crowd members had the opportunity to be handed a towel from one of their AKB 48 goddesses on home soil.
With some…very hyped and honoured responses. 🤔
Now it would be dismissive of us to not mention the other arsenal of amazing acts that also made the trip from Japan to perform here at Japan Expo Malaysia.
Some of which, we’d highly recommend (See “The Good Goods” below).
- Credits to Japan Expo Malaysia for the images
Taking the stage with their solo performance, comes,
- Harupiii, returning to Malaysia for another performance!
- DJ Hello Kitty, <See “The Good Goods” below for more> 👀
- Riona Hamamatsu, with her first time in Malaysia!
- Himika Natsume, a singer of dance music to blast Japan Expo Malaysia sky high!
- Kato Anna, one of the adorable members of Yumeoi Syoujyo!
- Kousuke Atari, the man of soothing folk music!
- Credits to Japan Expo Malaysia for the images
Sharing the stage with each other, comes,
- KiREI, the dynamite trio idol girl group!
- Kiiyama Shouten, <See “The Good Goods” below for more> 👀
- Cosmic!!!, with their Magic School boy band!
- ChocoLate Bomb!!, or Chocobomb, as they’re also called!
- BANZAI JAPAN, <See “The Good Goods” below for more> 👀
- Yoyogi Jyoshi Ongakuin, a 4 person group of idol girls!
- THE SIXTH LIE, with their Electronic Rock music!
- ZIPANG, the Ninjya idol girl group!
- SORGENTI, with their modern music pop that tastes like tradition!
- 0TU1, bringing their #1 ranked stuff to the show!
- WIN=W1N!!!, looking to dance this stage!
- ToumeiNaKankei, SampunSanjubyo, the 5 person team of idol girls!
Some of you might be wondering, why so many idol groups?
Well, it’s to keep you people from getting too idle. 🤔
The Good Goods
The Good Goods brings you ALL the best bits an event has to offer!
Please keep in mind this is only for the current iteration of this event, which may or may not repeat for future events.
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Coverage, The Content Full Event
One thing that stood out about Japan Expo was how, they literally have coverage of EVERYTHING that went down across the 3 days.
Like jeezus, go over to their official Facebook now, and you can see ALL THE POSTs and pictures of everything that went down there.
It’s nothing new for events, but it’s like…well.
Their coverage almost always outclasses event coverage pieces like this godawful post you’re still reading. 👀
Which is great to be honest, since that high quality self-crafted content helps give folks who weren’t able to attend a chance to see what was going down over at the event.
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Cultivate Culture
One thing I’ve mentioned before, is how much I really like it when events offer up something cultural related or unusual (Like that Ukulele booth from ACE in February) to explore.
And one thing that really stood out for Japan Expo is the BS amounts of booths for both schools and travelling.
Like jeezus, it’s like they really want people to slingshot themselves to Japan!
Oh and if that wasn’t F-ing cool enough, you even get to give activities like archery and kendo a shot at the event.
The kind of archery that’s really unusual to behold, but makes sense in the context of Japan’s culture.
Also, kendo.
Even with that armor stuff on, I really don’t want to get stabbed by a harmless wooden cane-sword thing irl.
Also x2, a Copyright segment that teaches folks about how to copy something right, which is something most will find to be irrelevant but hey.
That stuff still sort of works I guess.
Which ultimately, is some really good stuff to see in the field.
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Press F to pay FREEDOOM
Let’s take a moment here and give props to the organizers, G-Yu Creative for putting together this 3rd iteration of Japan Expo Malaysia for a bit.
And realize they made all this.
For free entry.
FREE ENTRY.
Like, jeezus F, can you imagine the F-ing bill for running this 3-day event?! 😱
We’d probably burn that funding for Children’s Card Games.
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Watch to Learn
Stalkers from local event organizers, pay attention.
One thing I really want to bring up was the way certain Meet & Greet sessions were conducted.
Here’s how it works.
First, when you lineup for a booth, an usher person would come up and ask if you’re looking to meet any of the members.
If yes, you pay up the meeting fee, and you’ll be handed a card of the person you’re meeting.
By then, you’re either waiting in line or ushered forward to meet that person if they’re available.
During that time, you can interact for photos, signatures or a conversation for example (Not applicable to all, but that’s the basic gist).
After a minute or 2, you’re ushered out to make way for the next person in line.
At that point, you have a choice to either lineup again or be on your merry way for something else at the event.
We witness this 1 lady who lined up at least 4 MF-king times, and on 2 occasions met the same person from this one band to interact with!
Jeezus that’s some dedication.
But anyways, what’s there to learn about this?
Well, it’s an interesting insight into how folks in Japan handle their meet & greet sessions, if any.
Interestingly, according to one of the usher folks we spoke to, he explained that this was pretty normal in Japan, and it’s very cool to see it in action.
Now to be fair, this does involve payments for brief minute long Meet & Greets, which is something that I really doubt any one here would ever want to see happen.
But it is an interesting phenomenon to witness, and see it can potentially be implemented for events here.
And well, learning a thing or 2 about how Japan does their stuff is good to know too.
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English MF-ker, THEY SPEAK IT
Going to be honest, I was kind of surprised at how some of the folks we ran into at the event were able to speak in English.
When realistically, it’s kind of expected to be difficult to communicate with them.
What was even more surprising was that, if you give them a sort of google translate, they still get the surface level message.
I had this one encounter where we had to translate a term to Japanese, where upon seeing it, the person answered the question with a lot of enthusiasm. 😮
This stuff is F-ing rad to behold in person to be honest. ._.
If that wasn’t cool enough, showing them a text in English that goes “Thank you for coming to Malaysia!” gets the message across too! 😮
Now to be fair, it’s likely that all of them had prior training with the English Language before all this.
It just makes sense to be trained for international gigs.
However, I still insist this is a really cool thing to behold in the field.
I mean.
Even with language you’d never encounter unless you travel to their home turf of Japan, one thing is clear.
Language never really seperates people from liking the same kind of stuff. 🤔
And that’s really cool. :pogchamp:
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High Performance Showing
…jeezus I can still hear the F-ing echoes of the performances from that weekend. ;-;
Which really goes to show the high quality stuff that an event like Japan Expo brings to the table.
I haven’t even looked up any footage of the performances, and I can honestly say.
You’ll never find a more watchable hive of foreign performances than at Japan Expo.
Speaking of, I do want to recommend some of the singers/bands to check out, because prior to this event, outside of the famous AKB-48 folks, we didn’t know jack S-Hit about any of the other performers. D:
Until now.
Anyways, do check out the following,
One thing that I have to mention, is the fact that on Day 1 & Day 2 of the event, during the early hours, you would run into the various members of this group distributing flyers for their upcoming shows.
It’s one thing to be performing at an event, it’s another to…get in the field to let people know and then perform later. 😮
Which is really neat, because you’d think that spending time out in the field handing out flyers and taking pics with attendees would get exhausting.
But clearly not, since their performances went pretty effing well.
Also, their songs.
They play a wide array of music that blends both traditional tunes and modernized music, and seemingly making it work.
Jeezus, why the F are their songs not in Taiko no Tatsujin?! (That drum game at arcades.)
Also x2, Malaysian Paper Fans.
They were carrying Malaysian Paper Fans for the show.
I imagine that they do the same for the country they’re performing at, but hey that’s awesome stuff, to accomodate your audience and all.
I was given the following advice during this band’s show.
“This one will be intense.”
A weird suggestion at the time, considering their outdoor stage show was slow and smooth sailing.
…and boy was I horribly wrong. D:
The last thing you’d expect to see from a trio wearing school shirts was music that rocks this whole Pavilion Mall to its knees!
Books are meant to be read, not judged by their cover.
And jeezus their show is arguably the most intense performance to behold in the field!
Also, did we forget to mention they had a song that includes Malaysia in the lyrics?
Again, like the previous suggestion, it’s likely something they change up depending on what country they’re performing at.
But still, way to sing about Malaysia, that’s one extra song for the National Day playlist at AMG.
I don’t know who is under that giant head of Hello Kitty, but for a first time show in Malaysia, it’s like…
Eating a pill of estacy from the 80s.
As everything spins right round like a record baby. @.@
DJ Hello Kitty’s cackling girly giggle leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but the fabulous mix of tracks from the 80s fits the DJ session.
Also, the Ginyu Tokusentai song.
God that stuff was good.
…huh.
Genuinely curious if eventually we’d get a DJ Pikachu. 🤔
The Bad Blehs
The Bad Blehs brings up some…bad stuff, about events, which need to be talked about since no event is without issues that can’t be fixed for the future.
Future Organizers and/or spies from other event organizers, you can learn a thing or two of what not to do at your event here. (As a guide, so that you’re not too busy repeating history.)
Please keep in mind these are only for the current iteration of this event, which may or may not repeat for future events.
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Calling Dibs
This is…an unfortunate oof for the timing of Japan Expo Malaysia.
Considering that, Comic Fiesta Mini Johor and a handful of other events were all happening at the same time.
Some over in Sabah/Sarawak, but you get the gist.
…now, granted, Japan Expo did call dibs on this date during its First Contact (See above), but it is one of those unfortunate things I suppose. 🤔
Unfortunate considering that some of these outside of Selangor events were things we really wanted to go check out. ;-;
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Not your Average Event
One thing I have to put bluntly about Japan Expo is this.
It’s nothing like regular ACG events most folks are accustomed to.
Which is understandable, this event is technically an Expo, which tends to cater to ALL THE AUDIENCE than a specific niche crowd.
Think of it like Comic Fiesta, but with a heavier focus on Japanese Cultural stuff, with a main course of performers from Japan to showcase.
This can be rather jarring for some folks expecting to see the attractions from regular ACG events.
But, in that scenario, it’s highly recommended to adjust one’s expectations as an attendee.
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Parade Confusion
The Cosplay Parade was the biggest highlight for Japan Expo on Day 3, but one thing we have to mention was the poor dispersal of the parade after it finished.
Just to be clear, no one got hurt or what not.
But, why the F was there a cluster-F of a jam around the right of the stage area after the parade had ended?
I understand that after the parade, cosplayers are not the event organizer’s responsiblility, but still.
Why not just, usher them off into a massive open space and disperse there, rather than jam up the one route that’s near an entrance?
Now to be fair, I’d chalk this up to some pickles that Pavilion Mall put in place, since it’s uncertain if they restricted the organizers on what parts of the mall they can or cannot use during and after the parade.
Yes, the parade was free to march downwards each floor.
But after that, are they still allowed to direct them to other parts of the mall to disperse?
…meh.
Frankly I doubt we’ll ever get an explaination, but in short.
The end of the parade could’ve been handled better, just something to look into for the organizers.
The Sequel?
Calling it now, we’ll probably get news of next year’s Expo around January 2020 if we’re being honest.
Given that the Japan Expo’s post once again mentions,
“See you again @ Japan Expo Malaysia 2020!”
…this is going to be a tradition now isn’t it.
Bah.
It is a good show to check out I’d say.
Can’t wait to be scared s-hitless again if they invite certain performers over again. ;-;
The Verdict
Wew.
Japan Expo, is by god, one of the toughest gigs to cover so far.
Between having to hang around for performances and avoid getting squished like sponges by terrifying crowd sizes, the event has its moments worth the trouble.
With some tinkering, the event definitely could be more…less hellish to go as an attendee. 🤔
However.
I swear to Effing god you won’t find any other experience like Japan Expo outside of maybe a handful of events in Malaysia. (Anisong comes to mind.)
And this FREE ENTRY 3-Day fest is very much worth checking out.
Just bring stools if you’re going there for photography.
It’ll help give Parkson a field day of sales.
*END*
Author’s Note:
Thank you so much for reading!
If possible, I’d love to hear your feedback on what can we do better.
Be it the bad writing, horrible pictures, or just the fact I need more water, I’d love to hear about it.
Also,
Check out more stories over at S.I.R House, of Content 2019.
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Page us anytime, anywhere, Amway offers will be shot on sight, no questions asked.
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