May 1-2 Sakura Matsuri – Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, New York
May 15 Cosplay Party 2.0 – Japan Society, New York
June 5 Lolita Day – Kinokuniya, New York
June 6 Japan Day – Central Park, New York

Hi everyone! We just got done with AnimeNext and that coverage will come up soon. But before that we had a bunch of events that we attended in May and June. The photo coverage of those events is already up!

The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (BBG) had its annual Sakura Matsuri at the beginning of May. This year however the early arrival of warm weather bloomed the cherry blossoms too soon and only a few remnants were left on a the trees by the time of the festival. This year they expanded their anime- and manga-related entertainment. They brought in performers and talent familiar to the local anime/manga circuit such as: Mario Beueno, Uncle Yo and Misako Rocks. The New York Anime Festival and AnimeNext staffs were also around this year.

Cosplayers were part of the attraction this year. Even the local news promotions on TV during the weeks before the event mentioned coming out to see the cosplayers. For the most part the cosplayers were well-behaved. There were a few times security (which was much more present this year than in the past) asked some groups to quiet down. But as long as the anime/manga/cosplay crowd that comes to the BBG continues to respect the festival they’ll be definitely welcomed back. The crowd did love to take photos with cosplayers. On Sunday night the highlight for a group of selected cosplayers was that they had a runway fashion show where they had professionals from “Project Runway” doing their makeup.

The next event was the Cosplay Party 2.0 hosted by the Japan Society. It looks like this could become an annual event. They showed the first “Evangelion” movie in their theater and held a costume contest at night that included more than 40 contestants and prizes from Kinokuniya . While attendance dropped this year, this can be attributed to other nearby cosplay events such as the Steampunk World’s Fair happening the same day. But all in all it was a great get together for the local fans.

The Kinokuniya bookstore also decided to host their Lolita Day event again this year. The event was crowded as we got there halfway through it. They in brought guests to talk to the crowd. We caught parts of Kesley Hine and Zoh Rothberg giving a talk to the crowd about the business side of clothing and hints of how to run your own lolita brand. After that Bibi hosted a Q&A session with the crowd.

In early June, the 4th annual Japan Day took place in Central Park. It was a display of new and old Japanese culture. Area cosplayers have used this event as an excuse to cosplay. This year there weren’t so many actual cosplayers as there were people dressed up pretending to be ninjas running or wearing yukatas. The closest event they had related to cosplaying was the fashion show where some of the dresses were lolita styled. The clothing makers were various Japanese designers. The fashion event also included a performance by the band GRAMM.

All the photos from the events are in the photo gallery.