Dokomi convention in April 2016
I visited the Dokomi on Saturday, April 30, 2016. I was in town for the Putumayo teaparty on the day before, so I decided to take the opportunity and visit the Dokomi as well.
So far, I had only visited my local convention called Animuc. The Animuc reported more than 7.000 visitors in 2016 over three days, while the Dokomi reported over 31.000 visitors on two days...
As you can imagine, the Dokomi was really huuuge for me in comparison to my local convention ;)
I was impressed by all the effort and work that was done by the 400 voluntary helpers:
Each ticket had to be scanned by the helpers with a barcode scanner upon entry, exit and re-entry. (The results were used to calculate the amount of visitors.)
The two entrances had a cloak room and a checkpoint for the cosplay weapons.
Other helpers were working at the cash desks, information desk and the lost-and-found office.
The helpers could be recognized easily by wearing special helper-t-shirts.
Preparations
I booked my eTicket at the beginning of February 2016. The ticket for Saturday costed 24 €.
My planned "program"
I had read the program of 2016 before the event and wrote down everything that I wanted to see. In the end, I did not see / attend the following things:
- autograph session with Jamie-Lee - I wanted to get her autograph for a friend, but the waiting line was too long.
- Taking pictures at least at the following the photo points: Purikira machine, classroom and "Bällebad" (a container filled with plastic balls, often available for children in furniture stores)
- Dance Off Contest
- Workshop on petticoats and crinolines
- Workshop on game development - We went to the host club instead
My outfit
I chose a comfortable and simple outfit for spending the day at the convention:
(Unfortunately, the front part of the dress and my bangs are misaligned and I forgot to rearrange both because I was tired...)
photographer: SweetManiac
Headdress Dolly Ribbon headdress by Innocent World Hair ribbon a shop in a shopping street in Kyoto, Japan Earrings nomuzik_nolive Necklace Raindrop Poem Blouse Lady Sloth Dress an older gray dress by Metamorphose with white stripes Tights Yessica by C&A Shoes Secret Shop Handbag ribbon bag by Baby the stars shine bright
The location
The Dokomi was held at the Congress Center.
The Dokomi team had rented parts of the trade fair center, but not all rooms.
In comparison to a typical fair trade center with rectangular halls, the rooms and corridors of the congress center are shaped in an odd way. You can see the shapes in the program of 2016.
The dealers' room
The Dokomi team rented an even bigger area of the trade fair than last year. Hall 3 was rented in addition and hosted the dealer's room.
The first stall I visited was the stall D7 by "Travel sim". According to the program booklet, I had hoped that they might give away SIM cards for Japan for free. But I was wrong, a SIM card for 30 days for 1 GB costed 35 €. As far as I remember, this is the same price as when buying the SIM card in Japan at Yodobashi or Big Kamera. The electronic markets have a bigger selection of different kinds of SIM cards, therefore I did not buy SIM cards for my friends.
The lolita brand Putumayo had a stall (E16). They had the same items as during the Putumayo teaparty on the day before.
There was an autograph session from 14:00 to 15:00 with lolita model Misako Aoki and Putumayo's designer Shunsuke Hasegawa. It was required to buy merchandise to get an autograph from Misako. Her merchandise was not really interesting for me and a little bit expensive, therefore I did not get an autograph for me. My friends SweetManiac and victoriacharlottethecat bought her merchandise, received an autograph and took pictures with Misako Aoki. ;)
I am not sure what was required to get an autograph from the designer...? I also did not really try to get one. But I was happy to see the designer again, he is such a nice person!
I was able to help locating the Putumayo x Dokomi collaboration hoodies and carried a batch of hoodies from Loopy Lovely to the Putumayo stall. It made me happy that I could be of help!
There was an "Innocent World popup stall" (E22). They had some dresses (e.g. from the Twinkle Star series) and hair accessories. I think the Braid Tucked Headbow costed 27 €.
The vendors' room displayed Itasha. That are cars decorated with manga and anime characters. One car was decorated with Hatsune Miku, the other cars with characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The fashion area
I spent a lot of time at the fashion area to check out all the stalls ;)
I liked that the fashion area had such a variety of items (jewelry, clothes, charms, plush toys, some household items) for different styles (steampunk, classic lolita, decora, sweet lolita and gothic lolita).
Some of the shops where I had a closer look:
- Schafgott Productions had fan drawings of Benedict Cumberbath from Sherlock and the actors of Supernatural.
- Candy Zombies had "kawaii and fluffy items".
- SteamWings sold Steampunk inspired items. Her sister Sternenzucker sold jewelry with food motifs.
- Kreativmiez sold Fairy Kei and pastel goth items.
Raindrop Poem at the same table sold handmade necklaces and rings with gems.
I have bought a necklace and earrings from Raindrop Poem in the past, before the label was founded. ;) - Kawaiimono sold phone covers and ear phones decorated in "Dekoden" style.
- The indie brands from the Putumayo teaparty on the previous day were present again: Loopy Lovely, My Mighty Kingdom and Li-Paro
The host club
I was walking around the convention with some lolita friends. SweetManiac suggested spontaneously to visit the Sweet Spice Host Club, so we went there. It was not clear where to register for an appointment because the corridor was crowded with a. people walking to and from the games room, b. groups waiting to get inside to meet their host and c. people standing around planless like us.
For meeting a host, we had to do the following steps:
- stand in line on the table on the left side of the corridor in the second floor and make an appointment. There was a poster with all hosts and pictures. We could select a host and a time with a one hour time slot. We received a paper card with the time and the name of the host. There was an internal problem that required to relocate hosts as waiters and therefore the next free slot was in two hours.
- go to the "Kasse" [cash desk] in the entrance area (this includes showing your ticket when leaving and upon reentry) and buy with money one or more Verzehrkarte(n) [consumption card] for 10 € each. The amount of money on the Verzehrkarte(n) has to cover the amount of money that you will spend on food and drinks. (You can get back the remaining money on the Verzehrkarte at the Kasseninfo afterwards.)
- spend some more time on the convention
- come back to the host club 5-10 minutes before your appointment
- show your paper card to one of the helping hosts who is standing in front of the doors. The hosts had two rooms and there were two entrances. We were waiting in front of the wrong entrance because nobody told us...
- follow the helping host to a table
- Your host will come and welcome your group ;)
Steff was the host of our group. Due to a lack of hosts, we sat on the same table with one more host and two other groups... Steff introduced himself and we told him our names. We received the menu with food and drinks. We would go to a Japanese restaurant later, therefore we ordered only drinks and had to leave before one full hour was over. You could order water, soft drinks, non-alcoholic cocktails, ramen soup and I think a sandwich.
Steff took our orders and we talked about lolita fashion, the Dokomi and his experiences as a host until the drinks arrived.
Steff told us that some of the host perform an entertainment program (dancing and singing), but not while we were there.
Of course we asked for a picture before leaving ;)
(The pink shade of the picture is from the colored lights in the room.)
photographer: one of the other hosts
I was happy that I could see the host club with my own eyes and I would visit the hosts again ;)
My purchases
- 2 chopchick rests with panda motif by Elegance of crafting, 6 €
- an adjustable ring with a gray dahlia flower by Kawaii-Mori, 4 or 5 €
- 3 magnets for the refrigerator with Pummeleinhorn motifs by Pummeleinhorn, 8 €
- earrings with tiger's-eye stones by SteamWings (DaWanda Shop and Blog), 6 €
- earrings with anchor motif by Schafgott Productions, 4 €
I could not visit the Dokomi on Sunday. I would have watched the lolita fashion show and the question and answers about lolita fashion afterwards, of course ;)
A video of fashion show and Q & A is available on Youtube (47:33 minutes).
I went to the Japanese restaurant Maruyasu in the evening after the Dokomi with my boyfriend and other lolitas.
The restaurant has different stores. We went to the new location.
It has a self-service concept. You can chose warm dishes and drinks from the menu. Different kinds of sushi are on display in the sales counter. The staff will put the sushis that you select on a plate. You pay all your food beforehand at the cash desk. You will get a buzzer with a number for your warm dish. When the warm food is ready, the buzzer will make a sound and you can pick up your food from the cash desk.
I had green tea, Gyoza and Japanese curry ;)
