JAPAN 2017 – Part 1 (English)

(French Version here!!!)

So! I am back both from Japan and Portugal and it is now time for me to look back and share with you my travel journals.

The main goal for my trip to Japan this year was to enjoy the Japan Media Arts Festival exhibition, where my comic Sky Rover part of as Jury Selection. But so many more things happened, so I ended up spliting the post into three parts.

JAPAN 2017 – Part 1

I reached Tokyo on the 13th of September, and the Award Ceremony was two days later. It was very serious, with a lady softly playing the organ the WHOLE time! And then we had a reception where the food was AMAZING!

I was a bit sad Shinkai Makoto-sensei wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, so I could see one of my heroes with my own eyes, but it is expected from such a busy person!

I got my hand on this book. And inside is a page for Sky Rover!

Next day, on the 16th, was the Aisatsu in a cinema in Shinjuku for the film Ballerina for which I was character designer. I had the pleasure to meet with the Japanese audience, answer a little Q&A at the end of the film and do a signature seance.

I was actually very nervous at the beginning, but the people was nice! I hope they enjoyed the film as much as I enjoyed working on it!! And also, I must thank Kuyama-san for her support and translation skills in this adventure!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Kuyama-san was in fact the brain behind many of the events I participated into. And what a nice lady! I miss her already!!! ;_;

Fun fact, I was told by a lady I was wearing the same boots as Felicie:

Then I visited the JMAF exhibition and attended to a few talks and presentations. It was all in Japanese so I was always coming back home with a critical brain meltdown. But it was good practice. I noticed my brain can only sustain around 25 minutes of intense Japanese decoding, pass that, it shuts down. But good for me, I recorded all those talks so I can listen to them again.

After that, I had a little bit of time to visit Tokyo and meet with friends. My friend Tomoko, along with her language teacher friend Yuko-san, brought me to a natural disaster training center in Asakusa for me to test my wit against fires, typhoon and earthquakes. The scariest was indeed the earthquake simulator, but I survived!! And I am happy I became a responsible tourist who knows how to react in case of an emergency!

“KAJI DA!”

To be continued in Part 2!! つづく！