TAMACON 2015: Just in Time for Summer

March 30, 2015 – Manila, Philippines

The CNPH Team witnessed the comeback of one of the most-anticipated conventions held by university students – Tamashii Convention (Tamacon). The theme for this year is a fusion of the traditional and popular Japanese culture to the Filipino market.

March is the season of graduation and summer vacation for us Filipinos and having this event as a month-ender for Japanese culture fans is a good way of de-stressing after long days in school or work. Most of the cosplayers also adhered to the event’s theme as they donned their yukatas while trying out the activities in the Matsuri booths and roaming around the premises.

Just like the other conventions, most of the activities lined up for the day are pretty common such as the band performances, mini games, individual and group cosplay competition, and sponsor segments. What made Tamacon stand out from the rest though are the Sports Anime Café, Jpop Idol Contest (unlike the usual anime karaoke contests), the Japanese Culture Talk and the Street and Kawaii Snapshots fashion shows.

In terms of convenience, the payment method for the tickets came in two forms: online and via meet-up at their booth.

Nihon Kenkyuu Kai, De La Salle University’s anime organization is the one behind the success of this event. The “No Ticket, No Entry” policy and crowd control were well-implemented. Considering that the venue was small, almost everyone whom we chatted with was still pleased with how the convention turned out.

Here are some of the pictures of the cosplayers that we met during the said event:

“I actually wasn’t able to see the Kabe-Don booth since I found it hard to roam inside the convention area due to space restrictions. As I’ve heard, there was also a gold fish scooping booth and a wishing tree. It was a very well organized event and I really liked that they implemented the “No ticket, no entry policy”, it made the convention area less crowded by filtering people who didn’t have tickets. Tamashii Con also had a baggage counter which gave the cosplayers the comfort of roaming around the convention without worrying about their cosplay stuff.” – Aire 

"Honestly, I was expecting the activity booths to have a Japanese feel to it in terms of decorations. I also hoped that they rented out bigger halls but considering that there are other events in SMX, I think it's understandable. Some of my expectations weren’t met but at least I had a fun experience in terms of meeting people. Congratulations to Nihon Kenkyuu Kai for a job well done!" – Xien

Photographer and Contributor: Aire Xie

Article: Xien