Sakura Con 2010: goth loli cat girls, families who cosplay, the dark kings, game villains, crossplay, yaoi and panty shots

Okay, back at home and how to describe the days which were so packed with events? By the time I came home, I feel asleep and stopped breathing. Saliva dripping into my lungs started a convulsive reaction and I was choking, then sleeping for just under five hours. But was it worth it? YEAH!

Families:

Not just did we saw a lot of couples but there were various families who came and come to Sakura-con. This tiny Robin would let you hug her,

but you had to hug her plushie FIRST.

Here we are on the way to the Dazzle concert and there was a family that had dressed up as characters from Princess Tututhe anime is a ballet over the top with sugar shojo anime (you know, the ones where your dance of joy draws the evil out of the bad people so that they can change can become your friends!). The little Ballet Princess sure is a cutie though.

While this family danced at the Forever Waltz Masque Ball, the mom in cat ears and the kids in animal costumes with tails, and they were having fun, whiskers drawn on their face leaping around, literally.
Here in the exhibitors hall, I met a mother and her daughter, as you can see, a difference in style for costume, but something done together. Sakura-con requires an parent/guardian present at ALL times up to teenage when a parent/guardian must be in the building. Leaving the second concert (High and Mighty Colour), we came past a room of haggered looking parents whose teenage girls were screaming over the singer in the main concert stage. Until the teens left, the parents were drinking coffee and bemoaning kids who like Japan culture. As one girl said, “Once I turned 18, my mom said, ‘That’s it, I’m free, you can go on your own now!’”

Villains and game play:

There was a whole section of the convention center for full time game play including guitar hero (accompanied by a band) and Dance Dance revolution, where the better playing would be projected onto the big screen on the wall overhead for the couple hundred viewers. MTV was there doing casting for a reality show for teens who wanted ‘live a dream’ with a one month intensive coach, plus Microsoft was beta testing a new game platform. That really wasn’t our thing, but there were plenty of cosplaying villains, heroes, game characters and troopers. Indeed there were SO many characters in police, trooper, and other badge on shoulder costumes it became unclear if police were there, I asked one person who said, “Oh, the REAL police will let us know they are police…..I think.”

Of course Darth Vader is a popular Villain and is here getting defeated by a group of warriors from a role playing game. Previously he had been killed by a group of Sailor Scouts. I am wondering what it is like to cosplay only to be attacked and die many times a day?

The question is, after a day of creating mutated monsters and cleaning up secret operations, how DOES an Umbrella Corporation operative catch a cab home? The Umbrella Corporation is the ‘Bad’ organization from the games and now movies of Resident Evil. The Umbrella Cop makes Zombies, no matter what they try to make…ends up as Zombies. Shame that.

Here we have The Dark Knight, Batman facing off against Superman ala the graphic novel, the Dark Knight. During the scripted Cosplay Chess as told to us by Jen, who shared the disabled parking stall next to us (pic of her later), the King of one side was The Dark Knight and the other King was our favorite disreputable character, Jack Sparrow! She said when one chess piece took another they would battle it out in scripted moves, like movie fighting before one conquered the other. Sounds interesting, I should try to see it, next year?

Now even our game characters need down time, but things to remember when doing a dance with Master Chief from Halo: get him to leave the frag grenades at home, also remind him that while he has an enhanced ecto-skeleton, you do not so please don’t step on/crush your foot.

Of course, once you ARE a character from a various game quest, and have to walk back to your hotel, do you stay in character or not? There were so many people in costume that the local population was having difficulty figuring out what was up. A request was forwarded to my computer from Sakura-con about how many people could not tell which were real weapons or not and how the Seattle Police Department had asked Con visitors to put away weapons when away from the Con area. So, please remember to put away your RPG, lightsaber, or other weapons while going back to the hotel for donuts.

Cheryl, Linda and I:

Well, by day two I was looking rather tired, I had not slept for more than 7 hours a day in over a week and skipped a few naps by keeping my heart going with coke (the soft drink, I tell ya, I was missing my medicinal M. down in the states!). So here I look on the morning of day 2 after bathroom duty.

I was off to get my kimono fitted at the workshop and so got a nice Hello Kitty tattoo on my neck for when I put my hair up.
At the Kimono Workshop there were professional kimono assistants to help people try on Kimono’s, of which there were many, from the ‘child’s Kimono’ with a soft obi and bow, to the harder obi but long sleeves of a young woman (march 5th is Girl’s Day in Japan – a big day for dressing up in Kimono’s). This Kimono is used for all festivals and occasions up to ‘coming of age’ day, which is the day when you get your name moved out of your family registry at 21 and the government starts your OWN name registry, meaning you are now an adult, you can adopt (have another added to your name registry), marry and do the other acts which change the history of your registry. Also there were marriage and ceremonial kimonos. The workers were very surprised that I had my own kimono from Japan and were very happy to fit me, with the obi and ties. In Japan, due to the need for the bow on the back of the obi, there are stores you can go to or stalls at festivals for having kimono’s tied for you. A recent manga has been translated about a girl who works in one of these stores (also a yaoi manga about a department store that sells kimono’s for those who like men in the men’s kimono’s). I got my Kimono tied and then Indy and I were off, to go to the sales expo (I had missed the Kendo) and another signing, then on to the two concerts of Dazzle Vision and High and Mighty Colour before the AMV contest winners show (you know, more than I do in two weeks normally).

Linda that morning had dressed up as a Cat Girl in her corset and leather pants from Torrid, they were a BIG HIT for me. She also had cat ears and Cheryl and I both complained that she just didn’t seem the same without her cat ears when she took them off that night. The previous day you will remember she was wearing her knee high boots, her pirate queen outfit and looking seductively from the elevator. The white rabbit plushie was the official plushie of Sakura-Con that year and had sold out by the end of the second day. I don’t know the total number but the count was huge, over the 16,000 of last year, and probably far over 20,000 people as most vendors were sold out, the concerts held thousands, the AMV showings held hundreds.

Cheryl had arrived as Porco Rosso from the Ghibli Film of the same name and was recognized immediately and had many, many people ask to take her picture. She chose not just a character she liked but one which suited her. For example, a lot of her body movements and gestures like the hands on the hips, are also ones of Porco Rosso from the film.

And here is the proof, that Cheryl did a Waltz out on the dance floor. Here I am, coming out of a spin with an arm high extension before we continue our dancing. It would be a waste of a good tuxedo not to dance.

Dazzle Vision is not only the number 1 pre-sale in the HMV charts but also number 2 on the Tower Records and a BIG hit band. The main singer is listed as singing lolita style melodies combined with Death Metal. That just doesn’t seem to be possible as she starts out with her very nice, “Thank you very, very much to be here, I would like to know all of you and thank you.” And then starts, in her pink lolita dress to sing, only to suddenly switch over to a screaming death voice which rips the vocal cords apart, and then switches back again. Here is an 8 second video which you can hear her doing it, and changing stances too.
It is like watching a split personality as in her Lolita singing she literally ‘skips’ in large skipping around the stage in ultra-femme, the goes into thrasher style death metal screaming, with hair flinging as shown here. I called her ‘The screaming girl’ the rest of the time and everyone knew who I meant, but it was like watching someone catch on fire and then have it go out again: mesmerizing and I don’t know HOW she goes from death metal to high melodic singing and back again dozens and dozens of times.

After the concert, we bailed on High and Mighty Colour, met up with someone from the internet who had come to meet us and went to see the ‘best of’ for the last 10 years of AMV’s for Sakura-con. Here they are, with me still in Indy (thankfully since the bass during Dazzle about knocked me out) watching AMV’s.

We started out with a Dark Knight trailer which had been remixed from Death Note, there is only a beta version on youtube, but watching it was amazing,particularly as the rating was ‘Otaku rated’ and then ‘What one man can do with unlimited hours in his basement’. Good stuff.

It started at the year 2000 and I was hoping for more…well, shojo or girls manga, but it was clear that the judges were all 40 year old guys when a Transformers AMV won EVERY other year! Plus lots of Samurai X and other older classics. There was an early one on Porco Rosso which had been done with two VCR’s in 1999.

Every couple there would be a really good one and it is quite different being in an audience of hundreds, watching on the big screen anime music videos which make fun of classic shows. There was an ‘Audition’ which had the evil God from Death Note singing Mahnama-na from the Muppet show, (“Cut! What’s Next!”) Next was Sailor Moon doing an Aria from Carmen. Like the Gong Show, she lasted only a few seconds before the next act was hustled in. AHHH, another Transformers! Only I burst out laughing when they started sing Y.M.C.A. with transformers combined to make the characters.

Here is another AMV, which is a favorite of Linda, Cheryl and I, it has not only the longest song title ever in AMV history,my favorite part (laugh out loud is ‘Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.’ – you will have to watch to figure out what I mean).

The trailers were the best parts for me, including The Chronicles of Ghibli (ala Narnia) and this one, which is a retake of Gladiators I NEVER would have thought of, ever,and a tribute for all those parents out there with 6-10 year old boys.

On the first day, Linda took this picture of me, while I was shopping, which seems to have been a deliberate attempt to go for a panty shot. Who would have known Linda was one of THOSE, let’s make sure she doesn’t have any cell phones on her while going up the escalators! Actually we did go later to Victoria Secret and get night shirts and scanty panties (woo hoo more confusion to the care workers!).

Yaoi, Yuri, Girls in Uniform and Cross-Play:

There were dozens to hundreds of cross dressed guys, many doing it very well, as well as cross dressed girls, or better yet, girls in uniforms! Also Yaoi couples (sometimes played by two girls) of two guys, and Yuri couples. For example here we have a Yuri/girl-girl couple only the girl in the pink dress is cosplaying Sebastian, a boy who is cross dressed in a yaoi/boy love themed series. Ah yes, welcome to Cosplay!

Day one, I hit the Media Blaster table looking for Maka Maka (sold out!) a lesbian manga, and talked to the translator who recognized me from last year and gave me a really good deal on some of the new books! Good things I went the first day as on day three, the manga was down to a few books and large sections of the table were empty.

The Yummy of the Ball was the Yaoi two male couple where one was dressed as a gothic lolita girl with skirt and underskirt, high socks with lace and long pony tail. Not only that, they were great dancers, and somehow, we kept seeming to be near them while dancing. Odd that.

On the other side of the dance was another two guy yaoi couple where one was in suit and the other was wearing a kimono, the long sleeves indicate a girl before the coming of age day. The only disappointment was that the kimono wearer had a mask with a very long nose, which is one way to keep your distance in dancing, to be sure, but where are the intimate cuddles!

The big hit from last year in shojo was K-On!, loosely based on the hit movie, Linda Linda Linda (which I blogged about before). It is about 4 girls who practice after school for a band, which plays songs written by a band member. Oddly, the member is obsessed with stationary so the songs are ‘You are the stapler in my A4 binder’ and other love songs. The best cosplayed K-On! Member was this guy. K-On! was so popular it created a whole comiket section of artists creating art from the show, much like the Tohou project (also, the best dressed cosplay members from Tohou were a group of Japanese males).

There were several buses of Japanese Con visitors who had come from Japan, the chance to see Dazzle, Ito and Trigun: the Movie early must have been a draw. The person behind me in line had their body pillow of Ito’s art to sign (the body pillows start about $100).

In the Sellers area, this woman who I THINK is the sexy heroine from the Yuri Anime, Strawberry Panic, walked by. But then again, a woman in a riding uniform with a whip, do you NEED to know what the series is, not me, I can just enjoy!
Here are three females in uniform from the slice of life, shojo anime hit that just finished in Japan, So.Ra.No.Wo.To. In the anime five girls in uniform, hold military post as the tower maidens on the edge of no man’s land, after a long forgotten war. They live in a building which has a classroom, but for these 12 and 14 year olds, along with an 16 and 19 year old, the idea of having children sit around, or that many children to just learn is hard to imagine. It is a fun, exploring type of show and here are three great cosplayers from it.

Lolita Cat Girls, Lolita Girls and Goth girls

Well, is any day complete without a Lolita cat girl? Not for me! Thankfully I found one and got her picture in the sellers hall.

Technically I think this might be a fox girl and I am sure they are from some show, but since they spoke Japanese I didn’t find out what it was. Alas. But then, there are lots and lots of people wearing costumes from games, or shows that you may not have heard of or remembered. I ran into a group of eight or nine girls who had dressed as the Villains of Sailor Moon. Okay, nothing obscure there!

This goth baroque vampire girl makes me understand the sexual attraction of vampires FAR more than a shiny one from Twilight. And she was the one who clued me in on the caps for teeth. They were too cute, even while talking, though hard to explain if you show up on Monday/Tuesday as a manager with fangs, literally!

Upstairs we ran into Jen, who had just paid $50 to get her fangs done.They take a while as they are done with real dental tools and shaped for your teeth but should last up to five years – a good investment for those who want an immediate lisp. Jen had a clot in her heart, which by the time the hospital opened her up to operate on her heart (you can see the scar on her chest), the clots had gone into three pieces, one to each of her legs and one to her brain paralyzing her left side. She is back to walking now, with braces on her legs. We noticed that the US uses a lot of braces for legs and backs, as Nene Thomas’ sister had a back problem of fused vertebrae, and used a brace. Why Canada doesn’t use orthotics as much as the USA which seems to have a policy of getting people mobile. There was a wheelchair user who worked at the convention center and had a pelivic shift crush her nerve bundle, she also had leg braces in order to be able to use the back of her chair as a walker (which it was set up to do). We also ran into two people who had fold up, or break down scooters, including a three piece scooter, no piece over 20 pounds, that goes 16 miles on a battery charge and is from Isreal. Wow, that makes Indy seem like a huge power drain.

But it was Lily who definitely wins the ‘incorporating your disability into ‘cool’’ award for her goth presentation. Lily has a $350 corset to help support her back and the two canes, these are her ‘goth’ ones along with the white hair (it is usually pink and the canes have flames) as she had hip dislocation and EDS III or EDS VII (she is being re-tested now). Her hip sockets are too shallow for her hips to slide into so she needs to canes and braces to ambulate. But she makes it look cool, really goth cool. We talked about how corsets are so helpful for wheelchair as well as back issue uses, as they help a person to sit up as well as stop things sliding. Lily had blinged up her eyepatch with a vampire bat as well as some steampunk baroque additions. I am in awe.

Here are two visiting Goth lolita with slight punk aspects. Ahh, the lovely variations within lolita. Another goth lolita with cat ears and I talked outfits and we had a lot of the same suppliers, as this year Tripp NYC from hot topic did not just corsets, but whole dresses as well, for those who have the height and body to fit them. Plushies as an add-on to the goth look is always a plus, even with the sweet lolita yaoi boy who was a furry, wearing long furry shorts and a long tail, running around in hit white furry halter top and four plushies (literally running around, that is why I don’t have a picture).

There is also this cosplay in cape and gloves from the anime Ergo Proxy (good, cyber punk). The outfit would have worked for Carnival in Venice too (New Orleans as well, I am thinking). And, for outfits which make it REALLY hard to take a cab, here is this cosplay character with wings (???? Sorry, don’t know it).

I would like to say that was all, but since I took almost 1,000 pictures, this is actually the best of the best. I hope that gives you a taste of Sakura-con, thanks for all the help and support and for meeting all the great people at the Con. Please feel free to comment and I will add what info I have.

Sakura-Con Day 3: Sweet & Goth Loli, cross-dressing fencers & Kyudo Archery explained! (Plus bigger breasts & I win a prize!)

On to day three of Sakura-Con! After the first two days I was lagging pretty bad, and also I had been trying to blog, with a variety of speeds from dial up to limited broadband since we started. I had uploaded some pictures and took others on the way and uploaded them to an online account to use in the blogs. Here you can see me, working away until 4:00 am and past to get the blog post done. Yes, I may not spend as MUCH time seeing stuff as before but I still work as hard as I can.

Day three was a NEW outfit, a combination of the Bustier and virginal thong bought in Port Angeles at a Hello Kitty store (amazing the things you can get there!), and a skirt that had arrived between going to the doctors’ appointment (insert slow somber music) and going to Sakura-con. It was sent as a random present by a reader, and it sure came in handy, a perfect match. But first I demanded that people see that YES, I did shave all places (TAKE a picture!). I had other pictures with my legs spread but I chose the ‘virginal and chaste’ look here rather than the ‘town slut’ look. I also took pictures of the back, showing the thong, and the ribbon tying me in but choose to go with STYLE instead. Also, thanks to Linda forgetting my white push-up strapless bra, I was natural, but thanks to the WONDER CREAM, I was perky and natural! Seriously, I had the cream all the girls want at 11-13, you literally rub it on (of course in my case, a little lower than the breasts), and your breasts get bigger. SWEET!

And here I am, all dressed up and ready to rock and roll with my elbow length lace and ribbon arm warmers. The plan was to see some of the exhibit hall and get gifts and then to go to some of the panels on during the day, particularly the one on Kyudo: Japanese Archery. It has the super tall bows and a very different grip system; but also see the goth lolita fashion show.

The exhibition hall (of sellers) was sort of both GOOD and bad, as I had found out on Amazon that the manga about the crossdressing fencer Le Chevalier d’Eon went to volume six, however volume 4 was totally missing. I had 1 and 2, and I returned to try and find volume four.

Le Chevalier d’Eon is a real person, and a spy for the French in the 17th/18th century. He or She spent several years as a Lady in Waiting in the Russian Court, but also several years as a guy in another assignment. But what is known and well recorded even in steel plate is that as a fencer, this person was unbeatable. And could win even with all the petticoats. However, after too many trips to different Royal courts as different genders, the job as spy was over; but d’Eon continued to switch genders, and teach fencing. Eventually, not knowing the gender of d’Eon, the King ruled that d’Eon could not publicly duel or fence while wearing petticoats. At the death of d’Eon, the King’s physician examined the body and the person was buried, it is still unclear whether d’Eon was male, female, ambiguous genitalia, or had an intersex condition. They are the one great fencer that is sort of NOT talked about in fencing as the guys don’t want to claim a cross dresser and the women fencers aren’t sure if d’Eon WAS a female, ergo in the west, d’Eon is rather obscure. In JAPAN, they made an anime about him, where his twin sister (who is a better fencer than he) possesses him and gender changes him for a time for the good of the King! The manga looks like it has d’Eon as male (maybe, still unclear) who dresses as a female, or a female who dressed as a male usually, returns to female clothes to protect the King with her/his blade.

Okay, history lesson over! Volume 4 was no where to be seen, however, as we went to another manga shop, the person was putting out boxes of $2 manga, which is like putting out a box of catnip to a cat (or me!). And then they had just updated and tripled the size of the $5 manga (sadly, I could not get to it quickly due to narrow aisles and a rush) but I quickly blew much of my ‘gift’ money. On the rounds I spotted, followed and asked for a picture of this girl in a wonderful corset and costume. The Corset is covered in skulls! That’s right, you don’t have to be a GUY to be a fetching pirate anymore! We arrived at the place I wanted to buy gifts only to find all things but one sold out! Ahhhh! He told me to email him at his warehouse which I will do today to see if he has certain cool items, which I can’t say or ruin the surprise.

Now the question came up about, what about Kitty Ears? First off, on the first or second day we got Hair Clip kitty ears ANYONE could wear. And used peer pressure to get Linda to wear them. I think she looks quite fetching, but she refused to wear them outside the hotel room. As for me, I ran out of money on gifts, sadly, but a kind soul (Cheryl) found a place that had SIMPLE white kitty ears, with tufts of white hair. And they were inexpensive. So I agreed for her that I would take them as a gift and wear them. Suddenly, no longer are we getting the SIMPLE white ones but the ones with purple ribbons and all sorts of stuff as she says, “This way it will go with any outfit!”

I was like, “This is very fu-fu!”

And she was, “But it is CUTE!”

So I gave in and here you see me with my pair of slightly over the top kitty ears! But hey, if you can’t go slightly over the top when you are wearing a bridal thong (for the next 12 hours as Linda ‘forgot’ to put any underwear in the change bag – talk about convenient for HER, and also a good thing I have limited feeling), then when can you?

After that I ran into this gorgeous Goth who I asked to take a picture of. She had a lace parasol as well! Afterward we compared clothes and she had the lace gloves from ‘Lip Service’ (as do I!), and the corset was made for her by a corset company here at the Con last year. I stay away from those companies as they use phrases like “Only $120” while my Bustier, thong and thigh highs came to a total of $23. She had some other lip service stuff but the wonderful Indigo dress she bought in Indonesia. Okay, well, I guess I can’t top that!

I then went to see about Kyudo with Cheryl, and as we were early I went to get some pictures at the Lolita fashion show, which I thought would be about girls coming down the runway. It was NOT! It was a power-point presentation of the different stores that sell sweet lolita, goth lolita and punk lolita. BOO!

For those who are somehow in a cave, here is how it goes. Basically, in the same way Betty Paige created the ‘vamp’ look, there is the ‘lolita’ look, which is best displayed in the movie ‘Kamikaze Girls’. It is NOT, as many customs agents thin, about being 10 and underage sex (that is loli-con), it is about wearing things that you WORE at those ages because they were leftovers from earlier historical ages. So a ‘Sweet’ Loli (or Lolita) would wear and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Dress with matching purse and maybe a plushie. I had a picture of some yesterday. I think I also had a picture of a Punk Loli (punky but schoolgirl!). Here is another ‘Sweet Loli’ as she has her basket and her plushie but also an outfit which cost quite a bit. Sweet Loli’s big name for where to buy stuff is Sweet Baby and costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Goth loli’s big brand name is....h.naoto (like, oh, say my bag on the back of my chair!).

So a Goth loli, has both the ‘school girl’ look as well as the ‘goth’ look as this girl does, outside the convention center. She also has an h.naoto bag on her back (from the fall collection I think). You can see why, regarding backpacks, I wanted a BIGGER one for my wheelchair. I don’t do goth loli, as after a certain age, TRYING to look 16 or 17 is kind of creepy, and for me, I just go for ‘everyday goth’ as it were. But a full goth loli in Japan will cost about $500 to START (that neck chocker is $40 for example!).

The whole lolita thing is about having what Thoreau would call a “Life Lived Deliberately” in which you enjoy the ways of the older things: you drink tea, you visit with friends, you walk slowly so as not to disturb the crinoline. You use a parasol to keep off the sun while you walk or picnic in the cemetery. You write a diary, you write letters and have a wax seal.....life lived deliberately. And you come to Sakura-con and get your picture taken.

Meanwhile, being the SHY and retiring sort I approached the guy getting ready for the Kyudo demonstration and asked him if I could hold the bow. I had wanted to in Japan, but there was no chance to go to a dojo. Kyudo is considered a martial art and popular with high schools thus popular in anime but I just liked it from having made bows myself. So he let me use his bow, made of carbon fibre and worth a LOT, and here I am, one cat ear a little tilted but having fun. I could not however PULL the bow as he needed it for demonstration and he promised me to use the students bow AFTER.

Kyudo has 500,000 practitioners and the ‘simple’ form has eight steps. Before the event the organizers of the Sakura-con talked to the guy in charge about moving CLOSER when they found out that his bow of a 70 kg pull (about 145 lbs) was going to be discharged INSIDE. Due to having people attending killed is bad form. Kyudo is like ‘super-zen’, as the master of the Dojo had been doing the ONE simple form for five years and felt after another five he would be ‘better’ at it. I talked to him afterward (SURPRISED?) and while the theory is that you can hit the target in the dark, the whole point is that you focus on only ONE thing: the target. That is what you practice.

There are eight steps of which I am only going to talk about four: the first is the stance. You move until your feet are shoulder width apart. This is more than just for balance. It is because each person’s arrows must be custom made for them depending on that distance. Your arm is at one foot, your hand at the other. We will skip the getting the bow ready and bowing and all that and get to the fun stuff: the last three steps (shooting!).

First you pull the bow (Yumi) a third of the way while over your head, but your hands are in the correct position. In Kyudo there is no sighting (that is in your MIND, hence the Zen), there is nothing but the bow. So you pull the string with your thumb, you hold the arrow with the first two fingers and you sight by resting the arrow on your hand holding the yumi (bow).

You then bring the string back to full extension, which is behind your ear and down to your eye level. This is where you concentrate on shooting, for about 3-5 seconds generally. In many cases it is not accuracy but the idea that ‘correct form in shooting makes correct hitting.’ Which is why it is a martial art. As the arrow is released, the yumi (bow) will spin away and end up on the opposite side.

I tried and tried and could not get a picture even in Movie mode of the arrow in flight, it was just TOO FAST. However, the full extension is the release mode, where the arrow is released and as you can see here, the yumi has spun away. The target being shot at is a makiwara, meaning a special design straw target which you shoot at closer range in order that you can focus on technique as your chances of missing are slim. I did ask afterwards and no protective ear or arm gear is used, so for beginners you practice and in a very Japanese answer, “Some students learn very quickly, while others are not so” – meaning some have red ears and burn marks from the string for a LONG time. But that is a steep learning curve having had my ear thwacked ONCE, I still remember it and the “Don’t draw back so far!” (this was the western style bow)

At the end of the questions he bows, everyone applauds, his students bow and then he says to me, ON THE microphone, “Yes, you were promised a bow to draw! If you will come over here.” So I came over and there were some people asking questions and I got into a great conversation with two girls about thongs and this one had just come to the line, “I’ve only ever worn one once! And that was because…” when this very austere Japanese man interrupts and it is my turn. I am the only person allowed to touch the bows besides the students. The bow I am given is shorter and I can pull it, so I ask if I can, and yes, so I pull it to the one third and then down to behind the ear and then say, “and now I would release” and then bring the string in. (don’t release a string with no arrow). They checked to make sure I am pulling with my thumb and it will not slip off.

After I do it a few times the instructor tells me along with another instructor that since the bow was actually made to be drawn from a horse, I should try drawing it across my body. That essentially, being in a wheelchair allows me to do the sport ‘correctly’ – as in more historically correctly than they can. Which is odd, as things are usually adapted to Wheelchairs instead of people in wheelchair being told, “Oh, we have been waiting for you as you are the only one who can do it the RIGHT way!” But I do two of the one third and then full draws and everyone agrees that this is the way I should shoot as it is ‘proper’ and sadly there is no Kyudo club in Victoria. There is one in Seattle and one in Vancouver, so I will have to drop by and start as a beginner when I am in those cities, as I like the sport. Often having an individual style, a style of grace is as or more importance than your accuracy. And I have ALWAYS had an individual style (of course the instructor may just yell, “Don’t shoot like you are driving a forklift McClung!!!”).

Linda had come to the convention center to pick us up and is now convinced that NEXT YEAR (see, Elizabeth the optimist!), she will have a ticket too. She went up a few floors to take pictures and really liked this character, which has both the umbrella AND a skull as well as contacts for red eyes (if you know the character and series please let me know!).

Also, as the ultimate in sweet lolita, living the Rococo life (Rococo is often a word for ‘the sweet lolita life’), here was a girl sitting on a bench. Wow. That is really all I can say but Wow. Also that if any teenagers are out there, go give your Dad a heart attack by telling him that THIS is what you want for your prom dress. Wow. And what is even better is that when the sweet lolita girl turned around, she was a cutie, with her neck choker, her bodice with lace and roses. Yes, hard to buy groceries in, I admit, but to have tea with friends, and to write in your diary, it would be fun (assuming you had the help to get INTO it and out of it again!).

Lets finish with this pair, from another series I have missed. I love the hair, I love the face on the school girl. I love the cheek to cheek. Anything that promotes Yuri (girl/girl pairings) I am for. And there were MANY girl/girl pairs at Sakura-con. Before I left I checked and I had WON a draw where I only HAD two ticket. Yet I was one of the three winners. I used my winning credit for Doujinshi (means book from struggling artist/circle who puts out high quality full color illustrations or story to sell at Con) full color art book!

Actually it was not the end as we headed from there to the international Village where the Japanese Center was with bookstore and all. Cheryl found a volume she was missing and I found my out of print, thought never to have been printed volume 4 of Le Chevalier d’Eon! So now if you want to get me Volumes 3 and 5 off the wish list (HINT!) you don’t have to worry, I have volume 4 ready! After that, we took the ferry and the drive and rolled back to Cheryl’s. Where we slept and then….did some postcards!

That’s right, I did postcards the night before and that night and the next day while waiting for the ferry as I felt, “Elizabeth, everyone has been so nice and the problem is, what have you GIVEN lately?” I was trying to explain to Linda, “I am a giver!” She said that just surviving and writing about Sakura-con might be gift enough for many. I said I know but I wanted to not go 2 weeks without postcards. Last week I couldn’t due to the medical stuff but this week I made SURE that 16 postcards went out in the mail. Not a lot, but it is a start! And I hope this week I can work during the week and have 40+, but I will do what I can do, I want to give back, you know, use letters and postcards to have like a conversation, Rococo style!