Tokyo Anime Fair 2006

The trip to Tokyo Anime Fair (TAF) 2006 had been vital for my brother, although it was on the day before his visit in Tokyo ended. We went on the opening day - with lots of adults in suits and none of the screaming ultra-mini-skirt-wearing high school girls and shaggy-bleached-haired high school boys in purposely-ruffled uniforms. Understandably, the first two days of the TAF were meant for business and the main reason my brother took hubby and I there was to help him out in identifying and meeting suitable business partners.

Since only my brother and I were dressed appropriately in formal suits for business meetings, hubby took the chance to wander around and helped himself to all kind of goodies and freebies - comics, plastic files, postcards, keychains, calendars, candies. As he hurried from one booth to another, my brother stopped for essential snapshots here and there as we met famous anime characters.

While I am not a big fan of anime, I used to join my younger cousins watching their share of cartoons in the evening when I was staying with my uncle in Putrajaya. Thus, being where the surrounding was full of hot air balloons depicting famous anime characters like Naruto and Conan, as well as bumping into real life actors imitating famous characters really made me thought of my younger cousins. Given a chance, some of them would probably join in the chorus of oohs and aahs coming from their Nihonjin peers who had a chance to witness the fair in person.

Towards the end of the show, tired of rushing for business meetings, my brother and I took a stroll. We even managed to laugh at our silliy attempt of lending our voice for animation in nihongo (aided by the persons in charge who read out the script and let us follow them since I could not read much kanji, while my brother could not read nihongo at all). I must say that despite having no idea of what he was saying, my brother would make a lot better voice talent for Japanese anime than me.

I guess we owed a kind Nihonjin who was working as an English interpreter at the fair a lot. She was kind enough to get us tickets for the Welcome Night party where my brother got a chance to mingle with hundreds of who's who in the business parts of the anime world. Hubby took that chance of being in the exhibition site when the show was over to snap lots of photos. Since we did not had any proper lunch, I indulged myself in edible sandwiches and lots of soft drinks, as well as reserving some for hubby and brother.

All in all - it was a good trip, though I doubt I would go when it's open for public. This year, both hubby and I got free entrance as we formed part of my brother's business entourage, so we did not have to pay 1000 yen each. We received lots of warm welcome at most of the booths we went to because we were seen not as mere anime fans, but prospective business partners - and yes, all of us had heavy bags filled with goodies on our way back home. My brother got more than he bargained for when we got the invitation to the Welcome Night party - for which he thanked me profusely because I was the one who inquired about it at the Information counter when I heard the announcement for it in nihongo. Of course, he's also thankful for the kind Nihonjin interpreter's assistance, which got him introduced to many prospective Nihonjin business partners.