HyperJapan

I took a day trip to London yesterday. I'd been feeling conflicted, as there were two things there I really wanted to see, and I had to choose between them: the Gundestrup Cauldron, currently on loan at the British Museum for their Celtic exhibition, and the HyperJapan Christmas Market at Tobacco Dock.

Fabulous as the cauldron is by all accounts, in the end the market won, being an event rather than a thing, and so more irretrievable. I was still walking down the road towards it when I met Sakura Kinomoto, and knew I'd made the right choice.

( Cardcaptor under cut )

HyperJapan is hyper in both common senses, and it took me most of the day to go round it (which, large as it is, cannot be said of the Gundestrup Cauldron). I ate some fabulous sushi as part of the Sushi Awards 2015, and ditto sake cocktails. Did you know you could buy tins of peach jelly, sake and sparkling wine all mixed together? It's surprisingly delicious, but you need to give it a good shake. (Just an idea there for your next children's party. This is the stuff.) The sake I ended up buying as a Christmas present turns out to have little bits of gold leaf suspended in it, which the Cromwellian in me flinched from as being just a little too garish, but I hope its recipient will be more forgiving.

Other than that, what can I say? There was cosplay of course, and kawaii-ness galore (alpacas are all the rage at the moment - perhaps they always have been?), maid cafes and matcha ice cream, though I was also able to stock up on things like bowls for miso soup, which pleased me. A companion would have made the day even more fun, but it was still very good. ( In proof whereof... )

I was restrained on many fronts, I tell you, but could not resist a tiny Clannad dango. ( The start of a daikazoku? )

A lot of shopping got done. Of Madoka there was little sign, but enough to assure me that in the catacombs of Tobacco Dock her memory remains alive, a flickering candle of hope in this naughty world. And, this being a very naughty world, we cannot ask for more.

HyperJapan

I took a day trip to London yesterday. I'd been feeling conflicted, as there were two things there I really wanted to see, and I had to choose between them: the Gundestrup Cauldron, currently on loan at the British Museum for their Celtic exhibition, and the HyperJapan Christmas Market at Tobacco Dock.

Fabulous as the cauldron is by all accounts, in the end the market won, being an event rather than a thing, and so more irretrievable. I was still walking down the road towards it when I met Sakura Kinomoto, and knew I'd made the right choice.

( Cardcaptor under cut )

HyperJapan is hyper in both common senses, and it took me most of the day to go round it (which, large as it is, cannot be said of the Gundestrup Cauldron). I ate some fabulous sushi as part of the Sushi Awards 2015, and ditto sake cocktails. Did you know you could buy tins of peach jelly, sake and sparkling wine all mixed together? It's surprisingly delicious, but you need to give it a good shake. (Just an idea there for your next children's party. This is the stuff.) The sake I ended up buying as a Christmas present turns out to have little bits of gold leaf suspended in it, which the Cromwellian in me flinched from as being just a little too garish, but I hope its recipient will be more forgiving.

Other than that, what can I say? There was cosplay of course, and kawaii-ness galore (alpacas are all the rage at the moment - perhaps they always have been?), maid cafes and matcha ice cream, though I was also able to stock up on things like bowls for miso soup, which pleased me. A companion would have made the day even more fun, but it was still very good. ( In proof whereof... )

I was restrained on many fronts, I tell you, but could not resist a tiny Clannad dango. ( The start of a daikazoku? )

A lot of shopping got done. Of Madoka there was little sign, but enough to assure me that in the catacombs of Tobacco Dock her memory remains alive, a flickering candle of hope in this naughty world. And, this being a very naughty world, we cannot ask for more.