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cosplay celebration |
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Our public relations guy, to repent for the previous cosplay and karaoke events that Anime Jungle has held that he has missed, made a promise not to miss the one being held during Nisei Week 2002. True to his promises, he's come through, and delivered some details about the competition at the event. |
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Anime Jungle and Nippon Book Company [ Brief History ] (information paraphrased from www.niseiweek.org) Since 1934, Nisei Week has livened up Little Tokyo for exactly seven days and nights. This annual event fell prey to World War II, which caused it to break its sequence. The 50th anniversary was held in 1990 instead of 1984 when it should have been. The Issei had complete control over Little Tokyo, which was the focal point of the Japanese American population on the continental US. It was a stable retail area, but expansion didn't look likely. The Nisei wanted an event to lift up the damped spirits caused by the Great Depression. They brought the ideas of "Nisei Week" to the Issei. Enough Issei merchants were convinced and helped fund the event. "Nisei Week" was organized and brought to reality on August 12-18, 1934. [ Kodama Taiko ] Kodama Taiko (from Pasadena, CA) came to perform during Nisei Week. They exuberated a vast amount of energy. Their massive taiko drumming could be heard throughout Little Tokyo. What was unexpected, at least to me, was they had performed the "Mochi-Suki" pounding ceremony. They had the crowd shouting "so-re" and "yoisho". Each time the mallet hit the half-way hollowed out tree stump, pounding the rice. After the ceremony, they distributed free mochi to those who wanted it. [ Karaoke Contest ] Sponsored by Anime Jungle and Nippon Book Co., people were able to sign up to get on stage and sing karaoke. One of the most noteable karaoke contestants was Tristen Citrine. I didn't expect her to be here. ^___^;; (ed note: neither did I ^_^). What would a contest be without a prize? The 1st place prize was a region free Memorex DVD player which went to a Sakura cosplayer from Sakura Taisen who sang "Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan", the opening to the game. Second place was a japanese cosplay video which went to a contestant that sang a tune from SDF-Macross. However, everyone was a winner, in the sense that everyone got a prize. Yan-Yan and Tissue boxes were the prizes for everyone that entered. Seeing the contestants holding Yan-Yan made me want some. I was even tempted to ask Anime Jungle for the left-overs. ^____^;; [ Cosplay Contest ] Ahh, the cosplay contest. It reminds me of our adventures at conventions. Of course, this contest is no where near in the same ball-park as a convention masquerade, but it was still interesting. There weren't that many contestants, but that was expected. Some of the costumes represented were from Final Fantasy X, Dark Stalkers, Tenchi Muyo, Devil Hunter Yohko, Final Fantasy VII, and a few others. There was a $100 1st place prize which went to Jon Talbain from Darkstalkers. Second place was $75 which went to Sora from Escaflowne. Third place was $50 which went to a pair of Final Fantasy X cosplayers. However, again, there were no losers. Though the prizes were almost similar to that of the Karaoke contest, there was one thing different: Coke. ^__^;; Yes, that's right, Coca-Cola was offered as a prize to everyone along with the tissue boxes and the Yan-Yan. They were really pushing me to ask. At this point in time, Iwas extremely hungry. Yan-yan would have fulfilled my hunger for the time being and Coke would have been adequate to wash it down. ^___^:; Check out our photo gallery for this event. —loy |
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