My time at the 2024 Brisbane Harajuku Fashion Meet!
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This blog post took a long time to get up because I got very sick. I persevere, though!!
On the 30th of November, I went to a J-fashion meet in my city. It was my first time ever at a J-fashion meet, and my first event of this sort in this city since I moved at the end of March, so I was really really nervous...!
From what I heard, the city council decided the walk through the city like what's usually done is NOT allowed this year, so an alternative had to be figured out. What's wrong with people dressed up nice walking around? Enough to be bannned, apparently! Then it was originally slated to be replaced by a picnic, but that was also rejected. So an indoors event at a studio was decided on instead.
I woke up at something like 5 in the morning thanks to my early sleep the night before. That gave me ample time to get ready at least, because I had to be out the door by 8 o'clock just to make sure I wouldn't be too late to anything. It's not like it's an appointment or anything but you know... I don't want to be egregiously late or anything!
I have to leave so early because this was happening in the city, and I actually live quite a while away from the city. Just to get to school I have to get up at 5 to get out by 7 to get there by 8:15 to go to a cafe before I start at 9!!!
As a side note, this is the reason why I want to move into a dorm for university next year.
Anyways, I got up and spent a while being lazy... that's the true reason I always wake up so early. I can spend forever doing nothing and still be ready to get out the door when I need to.
When I was done moping around I got showered, got dressed and drank tea (in that order). I already washed my hair yesterday so I had no worries about that.
I wore my White x Black x Red Takuya Angel co-ord. I originally wanted to wear thigh high socks to cover up my knees, but not two seconds after I slipped my leg warmers over them I thought, Fuck, it's summer, it's too hot for this!!!!
So I took them off and settled for regular short white socks which nobody will see. Definitely saved me some grief, because despite the weather being rainy, it's summer and it's HUMID! Back in Melbourne where I used to live things just aren't like that. When it's rainy it's guaranteed to be cold. It's the little things that you miss...
I put my son and second-best friend Jumbo (my stuffed panda who is definitely not named after Jumbo Toda from Muchi Muchi Anago) into my bangya trunk along with my umbrella and a copy of Analog randomly picked off the shelf which I intended to read on the train. (When I realised I chose one from 1962 instead of a later volume I was slightly mortified but that's besides the point.)
Well, I spent the rest of my morning sitting at my desk on my computer. I did some research into something awfully concerning: the possibility that my favourite bandman and my favourite bandwoman might not be siblings after all?? And I worked a bit on a couple of shrines I've been slacking on. I realised that it was 8:02 and made a fuss to myself about possibly missing the bus that wasn't scheduled to arrive for another fifteen minutes, so straight to the bus stop it was.
My usual train line was shut down this morning!!! So I took a different bus to a different train line. I spent a chunk of my bus ride on my phone before I realised that's probably a bad idea so I got my MP3 player out and just hit shuffle. I tried to listen to the radio but the static was too bad.
...And then I had to wait! Because the train was at the station but the driver was just standing outside with his arms crossed! I assume it was a scheduling thing or something but I was slightly miffed about it.
I got kind of fed up with how many delays the train was having (it had stopped in between stations with zero explanation...) so I poked around the albums on my player instead. I tried to put the most I could on that 4GB SD card so I even compressed all my files.
The problem with my MP3 player is that it's Chinese (I bought it off AliExpress super cheap) so it displays Latin characters and kanji just fine but it REFUSES to show me kana. There's also no album image display or anything. This blocks me from seeing what I'm actually playing a lot of the time which is why I usually listen to the radio or all my tracks on shuffle.
Hey, "10min" and "10min vol. 2" as album titles don't involve any kana! And they're right at the top of the alphabetical list! Sure! Perfect!
By the time those 20 minutes were over I had gotten off at Roma Street and had to turn to my phone for help. I'd never been to this stop before! It's uncharted territory! But I managed to make it to the bus stop just in time to catch my bus.
The driver asked me what the occassion was. Caught me off guard! I stared at him for a moment before spitting out that I'm going to meet up with friends. Not a total lie. Not a truth either because I don't know anyone yet so they're not friends.
At the next stop someone else in unique clothes got on and asked me if I was going to the meet though! What a score! I immediately didn't feel so nervous anymore! We chatted for a bit and then got off at the necessary stop. (We also had a tiny bit of trouble finding the studio the meet was at but we got there in the end.)
It was still early so the studio was yet to fill up, but everyone there was super nice to me, so that was great. I sort of just stood around but it was really nice just to be around people!
What I find funny is that almost everyone at the meet was either in pastel or rainbow. White x Black makes me almost feel out of place! But then, it's more like I'm special... hehe. Its not like you see Angelers around so much in Australia, so I'll gladly stand out even among other people wearing J-fashion! It makes me cooler!
There was a reading table in the upstairs section of the studio covered in stuffs like Gothic & Lolita Bible, KERA magazine, Fresh Fruits, and so on... I'm really glad because they were great to flip through!! I kind of gawked a bit whenever I turned a page and saw an Angeler or a certain bandman or model I recognise. Like, hey, that's my favourite brand! That's one of my guys! ...repeat x1000... lol.
There were even little kids here. Very cute and sweet. I felt like I was probably the youngest there aside from them to be honest though. Not that that's a bad thing...! Most of my existing friends are older than me just because people my age are usually In High School. I am not myself, I had to drop out thanks to my circumstances. I'm on my way to university either way though.
They had a professional photographer there which was super cool. She was really nice! I even got my photo taken.
(There's another picture of all the soft toys brought over with all the owners' faces in it. It's a really fun photo! But I didn't ask for permission from the others to post it, so that will just be for me. I reckon the owners are OK with their friends (and legs) being posted though.)
When things were way closer to wrapping up I got to stand around and talk to people, which I felt much more comfortable doing compared to when I arrived. It really was a welcoming space! ^_^
I made a new friend who gifted me a Charizard-themed kandi bracelet complete with a charm. He's so cute!! (My favourite Pokemon as a kid was actually Charmander, but now it's either Cofagrigus or Wartortle.)
I'll treasure him! He will go in my collection of best friends. Speaking of which, I have a lot of trinkets that would do better as kandi bracelets or necklaces than just sitting on my shelf, so I think I'll buy a bunch of beads sometime in the near-future.
After things were officially closed me and three lovely new friends went to get gyoza together. For this I did the one thing everyone tells you not to do and got in a stranger's car. How dare I! But it was fun.
I got pork gyoza with hollandaise sauce and it was sooooooo good!! >_< I bought the option with 8 pieces instead of 5 because I usually overeat when it comes to ygoza, but I actually felt so full that I wanted to die. (In a good way.)
We all talked a bunch about various stuffs. The topic of BL and shipping came up and I did the embarrassing thing and told everyone about Charma. Luckily, they understood me.
After lunch it was time to go home. I had a lot of fun and met some new people! The trains were being worked on so it took forever for me to get home, but that was OK coz I still had my MP3 player to tide me over. I was so exhausted dragging myself inside my house...
Picspam incoming~~~
