Neo-Tokyo Tour, Intermixi - Spring in Japan, Day 4

Sunday, Day 4, opened up cloudy and cold which was a marked difference from the sun and warmth on the previous day. Of course, this meant I had to wear shorts. :-)

There were only two events that we had planned. The first was fairly mundane, and really involved no effort on our part. We were switching hotels, moving from Sun Members Tokyo Shinjuku to the Sunshine City Prince Hotel.

The real event for the day was our attendance to the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008. Those of you that know me know I got hooked into this hobby long ago, which makes it all the more fun to attend an exhibition showcasing one of my interests.

Going through my older posts I have noticed that I never really talked about my trip to Japan with Pop Japan Travel back in 2005. This is only relevant because last time I also attended the Tokyo International Anime Fair, and I was curious if I described the scene. Since I didn't, I will attempt to do so now.

TAF is held in Odaiba, a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan. Specifically, it is held at Tokyo Big Sight, which is the nickname for the Tokyo International Exhibition Center. One of the interesting distinctions of Tokyo Big Sight is its construction. It appears as a set of four, inverted pyramids seated upon large supports. You can imagine what a sight this is, and it is among a few sights that are placed around the island.

TAF is essentially a trade show and convention, probably similar to events like E3, San Diego Comic-con and the like. The first couple of days are closed to the public and are usually during the week. The last few days fall on the weekend and the doors are thrown wide open to all who want to attend. I don't remember what the cost for tickets was last time, but this time the cost for a day pass was ¥1000 (roughly $10).

We got to Tokyo Big Sight at about 10:00 local time and there was already a huge crowd lined up and waiting to get in. We had to wait about an hour, but then they opened the doors and everyone filed in.

I don't really think any of my pictures (click on the first picture in this post to go to the whole set) do it justice, but this convention was really crowded. We went on the last day, so that might have been part of it. It took all of my Gaijin Powers (Smash, Perimeter, Optic Blast) to fight through the mobs and make it around in some places. About four of us from the tour stayed together while wandering through the fair, and luckily my jacket was easily distinguishable through the crowd. So when someone got lost, they always looked for me. (Of course, two of us had rented Japanese phones for the trip so we could always call each other just in case.)

So, most of my day was spent walking the floor and taking a look at all the various anime, merchandise and related materials that were going to be coming out this year. Various booths lined every possible area of the floor, displaying videos, figures, manga, merchandise, and pretty much anything you can think of. For someone with my interests, it was a lot of fun to walk around, gawk at all the sites (and booth babes, woohoo!), and get as much free swag as I could.

Sometime in the middle of it all, my group of four took a break for lunch. After some more walking, we decided to pack up and head back to our new hotel. For most of us, that was pretty much the end of the day. After a long flight, adjusting to a huge time difference, and two full days of walking, many of the group decided to take it easy that night.