HYPER JAPAN Festival, the largest British Japanese culture event, is currently taking place at London's sizeable Kensington Olympia venue this weekend.
The annual three-day-long festival has been running since 2010 and was established in order to celebrate and promote the many unique facets of Japanese society's customs and traditions under one roof.
Although the lion's share of HYPER JAPAN's event space is allocated to Japan's pop culture output (in the form of anime, manga, games, comics, artworks and the pertinent merchandise), the festival also amply showcases a lot of the non-geeky aspects of Japan. Expect to see traditional artisan handicrafts, snacks, cutlery for sale, as well ample sake tastings and tourist promotion stands over the three-day event, among many others.
The event also plays host to many Japanese cuisine-themed food stalls, from ramen stands, Japan-grown coffee, Okonomiyaki (savoury Japanese pancakes), gyoza (dumplings), assorted knick knacks and common Japanese convenience "konbini" store food.
HYPER JAPAN also has many music & arts performances scheduled on its main stage; expect to see anything and everything from Noh, Kabuki, Japanese Taiko drumming, Shamisen players, fan cosplay events all the way through to J-pop and J-rock acts.
Finally, HYPER JAPAN also has exclusive game demos on display for punters to try their hand at, from the latest Nintendo Switch 2 games to many more besides. Many British and international artists, illustrators and comics creators also have the chance to promote their Japan-inspires wares on the second floor of the event space.
