SF Cherry Blossom Festival 2017
Whoa! Hey! This blog is still alive???
Well, it is as long as I'm actively doing cosplay-related stuff.
And to my great joy, I finally completed a new cosplay! (well, it was 90% made by mum, with some help from me, so credit goes to her)
It's been so long since I've done anything cosplay-related, and it feels good to be back in it again, even if it's brief.
I cosplayed Snufkin from the Moomin series, which was a cosplay I was looking forward to for years, and it's relatively simple and comfortable to wear (with the bonus that I don't have to worry too much about getting it dirty/messy, since it's supposed to be a kinda shoddy outfit)
My cosplay leaned toward the 90s cartoon version (technically an anime, since it was made in Japan), but I might make a fake flower crown for the original Tove Jansson drawing version. Either way, I'm happy enough for now with what I have.
As always with cosplays with a due date, mum and I finished it the day before we planned to go to SF. We had some minor difficulties with the size of the tunic (ie: it was too big despite it 'being my size' according to the packaging), so we had to sew it down to a better size for me.
The night before we went, we watched (I rewatched) Big Hero 6, which was perfect considering we were visiting the most Japanese part of SF xD
---
On the planned day (which was the only rainy day of the week, what luck!) I hoped to go with some of my friends, but our plans didn't work, so I went with mum. Originally I thought about going in the cosplay section of the parade, but because I was without any cosplay friends, plus the rain, it would have been overwhelming for me, so instead I would watch the entire parade from the sidelines (my first time!)
Parking was difficult because we left a little later than planned, and therefore got to Japantown later. We spent several minutes looking for a parking spot, but they were filled because of all the attendees (it was the 50th anniversary of the festival, so of course), we eventually found a spot next to a parking meter, which was free on Sundays (another person who just parked behind us clarified this to us). We parked a few blocks down Post St, so walking was no big deal (we're travellers, and I got to do the walking portion of the parade without being in the parade, hooray \o/ )
We started off browsing in the East Mall, thinking about increasing the number of our house supplies, but either they didn't have anything we were interested in, or the lines were too long, and the parade would start in about an hour. Some of the food in the restaurants in this area looked really yummy, and I hope to try them out someday (I haven't yet). I got to buy some snacks though, and some new food that I'm looking forward to trying :P
After browsing the East Mall, we had about 15 minutes of free time, so we previewed the West Mall (which is much larger than East), and while contemplating what I could have for lunch, a lady had a little booth of onigiri and spam musubi, the latter of which I love, so I bought one without hesitation and ate it on the spot :P
I almost forgot about the artist booths, and there were loads of people browsing there. The only artist I recognized was yuumei, and she had her gigantic "Boundless" banner. Mum never saw her art before, and she fell in love with this piece; she thought about buying a copy.
We also quickly browsed down Buchannan St to look at the booths out here. I kept seeing people walking around with fried spiral potatoes on sticks, and I hoped to find them here (I never did sadly).
Finally the parade started (a little later than planned). I had a couple of people in front of me (including one audibly energetic lady), so some of the photos I took were a bit obscured.
(photos coming soon)
A couple of times the parade would halt so that people could cross the street.
After the parade finished, Mum and I had a proper browse in West again, though we didn't have too much time at this point (about 2 hours before we started heading for home). We decided to eat at Izumiya once again, because I couldn't get enough of okonomiyaki, and tempura for mum. However, I was feeling more in a noodle mood. I still wanted the flavour medley that comes with okonomiyaki, but I also wanted noodles. Good thing they had modern-yaki, so I had that, and it satisfied my desire =u=
As for recognition, there was one person who really liked (the aesthetic of??) my cosplay, despite not knowing who I was cosplaying (I should have told her! AGH)
I got recognized twice: one of the waitresses at Izumiya knew my character was from the Moomins, and a cosplayer (from an anime I don't know, sorry) who referred to my character by name. The cosplayer and I had a bit of a rant about how Moomin isn't as well known in the US
As we were heading back to the car, we stopped by one more shop to see if they had any savoury snacks that I like (corn potage crisps MMMM, sadly they weren't available D: But we did stock up on some satsuma sweet potatoes! :P )
Overall, an interesting and different experience than I'm used to. Hopefully next time I visit I will try new restaurants (last year for my birthday I tried shabushabu at a Buchannan restaurant there)
(photos coming soon)
Well, it is as long as I'm actively doing cosplay-related stuff.
And to my great joy, I finally completed a new cosplay! (well, it was 90% made by mum, with some help from me, so credit goes to her)
It's been so long since I've done anything cosplay-related, and it feels good to be back in it again, even if it's brief.
I cosplayed Snufkin from the Moomin series, which was a cosplay I was looking forward to for years, and it's relatively simple and comfortable to wear (with the bonus that I don't have to worry too much about getting it dirty/messy, since it's supposed to be a kinda shoddy outfit)
My cosplay leaned toward the 90s cartoon version (technically an anime, since it was made in Japan), but I might make a fake flower crown for the original Tove Jansson drawing version. Either way, I'm happy enough for now with what I have.
As always with cosplays with a due date, mum and I finished it the day before we planned to go to SF. We had some minor difficulties with the size of the tunic (ie: it was too big despite it 'being my size' according to the packaging), so we had to sew it down to a better size for me.
The night before we went, we watched (I rewatched) Big Hero 6, which was perfect considering we were visiting the most Japanese part of SF xD
---
On the planned day (which was the only rainy day of the week, what luck!) I hoped to go with some of my friends, but our plans didn't work, so I went with mum. Originally I thought about going in the cosplay section of the parade, but because I was without any cosplay friends, plus the rain, it would have been overwhelming for me, so instead I would watch the entire parade from the sidelines (my first time!)
Parking was difficult because we left a little later than planned, and therefore got to Japantown later. We spent several minutes looking for a parking spot, but they were filled because of all the attendees (it was the 50th anniversary of the festival, so of course), we eventually found a spot next to a parking meter, which was free on Sundays (another person who just parked behind us clarified this to us). We parked a few blocks down Post St, so walking was no big deal (we're travellers, and I got to do the walking portion of the parade without being in the parade, hooray \o/ )
We started off browsing in the East Mall, thinking about increasing the number of our house supplies, but either they didn't have anything we were interested in, or the lines were too long, and the parade would start in about an hour. Some of the food in the restaurants in this area looked really yummy, and I hope to try them out someday (I haven't yet). I got to buy some snacks though, and some new food that I'm looking forward to trying :P
After browsing the East Mall, we had about 15 minutes of free time, so we previewed the West Mall (which is much larger than East), and while contemplating what I could have for lunch, a lady had a little booth of onigiri and spam musubi, the latter of which I love, so I bought one without hesitation and ate it on the spot :P
I almost forgot about the artist booths, and there were loads of people browsing there. The only artist I recognized was yuumei, and she had her gigantic "Boundless" banner. Mum never saw her art before, and she fell in love with this piece; she thought about buying a copy.
We also quickly browsed down Buchannan St to look at the booths out here. I kept seeing people walking around with fried spiral potatoes on sticks, and I hoped to find them here (I never did sadly).
Finally the parade started (a little later than planned). I had a couple of people in front of me (including one audibly energetic lady), so some of the photos I took were a bit obscured.
(photos coming soon)
A couple of times the parade would halt so that people could cross the street.
After the parade finished, Mum and I had a proper browse in West again, though we didn't have too much time at this point (about 2 hours before we started heading for home). We decided to eat at Izumiya once again, because I couldn't get enough of okonomiyaki, and tempura for mum. However, I was feeling more in a noodle mood. I still wanted the flavour medley that comes with okonomiyaki, but I also wanted noodles. Good thing they had modern-yaki, so I had that, and it satisfied my desire =u=
As for recognition, there was one person who really liked (the aesthetic of??) my cosplay, despite not knowing who I was cosplaying (I should have told her! AGH)
I got recognized twice: one of the waitresses at Izumiya knew my character was from the Moomins, and a cosplayer (from an anime I don't know, sorry) who referred to my character by name. The cosplayer and I had a bit of a rant about how Moomin isn't as well known in the US
As we were heading back to the car, we stopped by one more shop to see if they had any savoury snacks that I like (corn potage crisps MMMM, sadly they weren't available D: But we did stock up on some satsuma sweet potatoes! :P )
Overall, an interesting and different experience than I'm used to. Hopefully next time I visit I will try new restaurants (last year for my birthday I tried shabushabu at a Buchannan restaurant there)
(photos coming soon)