AnnaTheRed's Bento Factory » 2009 » July

Otakon! part 2
July 19, 2009

Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else
Tags: conventions, otakon, tachikoma
7 comments

When we work at the convention, none of us really gets a break, but we take turns to see and shop at other booths. I was going to check out the concession stand and walked by this cute booth. It was called Happy Japan. First I saw bento boxes, then I saw bento gadgets on the wall!! I immediately went in there and grabbed a bunch of stuff.

Various cutters for kyaraben!

I soooo wanted these!! I often use a part of a cookie cutter to cut food, but usually they are little too big for the characters in bento box. I also use plastic bottle caps as a cutter for my bento, but they’re caps, so they are all circles. I’ve been wanting these since I saw it on a Japanese kyaraben site, but I’d never though I’d find it at Otakon. Hooray for bento trends! They were all $18. The retail in Japan is 1260 yen (about $13.50), so I think it’s very reasonably priced. When I was paying for these stuff, one of the employees said “Aww, your bento is gonna be sooo cute!”

The great thing about this cutters is that each one comes with a little booklet explaining how to use it. (all in color and pictures!)

How-to kyaraben booklet

Tons of pictures with detailed instructions.

I don’t usually buy rice molds since most rice molds are way too small for my boyfriend, and I can mold rice into any shape I want with plastic wrap. But I just couldn’t resist this one… It’s a Doraemon rice mold!

Doraemon rice mold

Completed with cutters for his whiskers, nose, eyes, and even the bell! Honestly, I don’t think it’ll work like it says in the packaging. (Or maybe it’ll work, who knows.) but I’m probably going to end up using it to make jello or something.

Check out Happy Japan for bento, Anime, and Studio Ghibli products!

*When I checked their site 2 days ago, they still had the food/quail egg cutters that I bought, but I don’t see them now… If you really want them, you might want to contact them.

And here is something else that made me super happy.

Tachikoma Collection Only $20!!

They're all mine.

Otakon! part 1
July 19, 2009

Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else
Tags: conventions, cosplay, otakon
4 comments

That’s right, we were at Otakon in Baltimore! I wanted to blog while I was in Baltimore, but I had a very crazy schedule everyday, so I decided to do two blog posts today, a cosplay post and a post of stuff I got at the con.

If you’re reading my blog, there’s a good chance that you’re an otaku. (a.k.a. anime nerd) And if you are, you probably know what Otakon is. It’s one of the biggest anime conventions in the U.S., and it’s definitely the biggest one in east coast. We weren’t there for fun but we were working at the con.

My company licenses and sells anime dvds, Japanese live action film dvds (with English subtitles), and also operates a Japanese online card game, which we brought over here from Japan last year. When we go to a convention, I work at the game booth, and my boyfriend works on the dvd side.

We got to Baltimore on Thursday and set up the booth. On Friday, we worked from 12 to 8, and on Saturday it was from 10 to 6. Today (Sunday) was a short day, and it was from 10 to 3. Standing on my feet for 5 to 8 hours straight for 3 days in a row, teaching people how to play the game can be exhausting. Good thing I like what I do.

Anyway, here are some pictures of amazing cosplay from Otakon! (*The fuzz ball they’re holding is called Kesaran Pasaran and it’s a character from a card in the game.)