Recently I managed to fulfil one of my dreams – I attended a convention in Japan. I cannot say it was my lifelong dream – my young self would not even dare to dream of something like that. Yet, since I learned about HAL-CON I knew I wanted to attend it. And at last I managed to do so this year. It was fun but also challenging. HAL-CON was so similar to other cons I visited and also so different from them.
Pre-con Conversations
Last year I was in contact with the HAL-CON Team regarding advertisement for Glasgow 2024. I used the opportunity to ask a bit about the option to participate. When finally the date of the convention was known I started looking for the travel options. There was a reasonable flight, but before I found a company for a trip to Japan the price went up. So I thought “not this year then”. Yet at the end of 2024 I found another cheap(ish) flight. It was not as cheap as I hoped for, but I wanted to visit Japan so badly that I decided to give it a go. This time I managed to find a companion and we started the planning phase.
Programme book, badge, and GOH party ticket. Thankfully we could keep the last item!
I won’t be describing all of the preparations and how the trip went (it lasted for two weeks so it would be a very long post). Yet I want to cover some aspects from the “pre-con times”. First of all the website. Despite HAL-CON targeting mainly domestic visitors it has a website in English too. Amount of information there is slightly lower than on the Japanese version. Having said that, it at leasts allow (potential) foreign members learn about the con. It is not something that all conventions do worldwide so I appreciate it a lot. What I found out later, was that it was good to check Japanese website too as it contained more information. Through doing so I learned about the opening of the hotel registration (hotel was awesome!) and about the GOH party (which was also amazing!).
By default HAL-CON required (if I understood correctly) payment made at the Japanese post office. For obvious reasons it was a challenging option so I decided to ask the organizers on how we can proceed. The team was kind enough to allow us – foreigners, to pay on site. When we corresponded about this topic I was asked whether I would be willing to participate in a panel about Worldcon, which, as you can imagine, I was. Then the last part was agreeing on how my name should be spelled in katakana: マルチン ”アルクア” クアク
Initial autograph sessioons of both GOHs. One had to queue separately for both of them. Everything went very smoothly.
Conventions Are Similar…
Conventions are similar to each other. HAL-CON was not an exception here. For sure its aim contributed to that. To quote the convention website: “[…] one of our key activities is to organize HAL-CON, a Worldcon-style convention in Japan.” When the convention started it was quite “natural” for me what to do and where. Registration went smoothly, I got the badge and programme book. It was also possible to buy convention merch (books only).
One of the panels.
Most of the things were rather familiar. Of course a lot was happening in a language I didn’t speak but the main mechanics of the con were something I knew quite well.
… But They Also Differ
Despite similarities HAL-CON was also a bit different than most of the cons I attend. And I don’t mean the obvious difference in terms of language. It is hard for me to pinpoint which differences were specific to HAL-CON itself, and which were more typical of conventions in Japan.
Each year HAL-CON publishes a book with short stories featuring works by the GOHs. I knew about it before the convention. What I didn’t know is the fact that as a member I was entitled to buy one copy that was already autographed by both GOHs. When speaking about books it surprised me to see “convention after reports” for another Japanese convention. Another difference lied in clothing – I saw more people in shirts and suits, and way fewer in geeky t-shirts.
As per my understanding Kurari is a mascot of certain publishing house in Japan. Each year on HAL-CON (and ona few other occasions) there are gatherings of Kurari.
I also had impression that “look and feel” on some panels was different, when compared to Europe. It was not always the case, and it was just a feeling not something I can point to and explain why I thought so.
Programme and Language
When I first started attending conventions abroad I assumed that there would be limitations to my level of participation. Not all programme and information would be available in English. I expected the same to be the case for HAL-CON and it was the case. A lot of programme was in Japanese only. Yet some of the most important items were translated. Here I want to specially thank Kyoko-san who helped me before the con, and who did most of the live translations!
I managed to attend a few programme items. Opening and Closing ceremonies were both translated. Interview with Suzanne Palmer was in English with a translation to Japanese. Sadly interview with Sana Takeda was held in Japanese only. My friend helped me with translating the most important parts of it though. I didn’t understand the language (well I know a few words in Japanese but way too few to follow a programme item), but it was an interesting place to be. There was also a panel about Worldcon where I participated. It was translated both ways Japanese –> English and English –> Japanese. Being translated was a new experience to me. I hope that my presence brought some value to the HAL-CON members.
Let’s go to Worldcon! panel in which I participated.
Apart from the programme items it was not always easy to use English. Yet what I saw was that people tried to help us understand what was happening. And this was, I think, the biggest similarity to other cons. As members of the con we were friends – and one often goes an extra mile for their friends. Some people assisted us with translations, others did their best to speak English so that we could understand. I am very grateful for all of that – it helped me to fully enjoy HAL-CON.
Speaking of language difficulties – the evening party with GOHs consisted of a few elements – eating (a lot!), chatting (even more!), and bingo. Usually bingo is easy, yes? Well this one was not the case. We had to make our own cards by using hanko stamps on the back of the standard bingo cards. The stamps were last names of people connected to Japanese SFF industry – writers, editors, art creators… Yet I don’t speak Japanese and I completely cannot read characters used for names. The good side is that thanks to my neighbour at the party I got the second place. I may have been the one who used hanko on the card, but it was my neighbour who looked at my card to help me follow the game.
My ‘winning’ bingo card.
Fresh Ideas
Bingo with names of people from SFF industry was a great idea but it was not the only fresh one at the con. Another was a competition for creating an object worthy of Expo. All members were divided into ten groups. For attending the programme items, shopping etc. we were getting stickers. Those we could use for our Expo exhbitis. All ready objects were displayed and members could vote on them. Person whose item had the most votes got a prize. Team who in total had the most votes got a smaller prize for each member. My robot did not gain too much attention, but one of the awards came to Poland with Grzegorz who did a way better job!
Announcing the winners of the Expo object competition.
I liked the idea for an exhibition showing the bookcases of both of the Guests of Honour. I also enjoyed the exhibition with “treasures”. Sana Takeda brought there four of her Hugo Awards. Someone else brought a Seiun Award (it was the first time I saw it!). Lastly there was also a mask/ head of an alien created by H.R. Giger. It came with the explanation on how the owner got it.
A Memorable Weekend
I am sure that I will remember HAL-CON for a long time. It was small but very friendly event. I will especially recall the GOH party. It was held in nearby izakaya. I sat in the Japanese style part of the bar. That means I spent all of the evening sitting on tatami mats in front of a very low table. I don’t remember how many dishes we had but it was a lot. I ate things starting with edamame, through sashimi, up to French fries with ketchup.
We decided to leave the party rather early. When we were back in the hotel I took a shower and wanted to go to sleep, but “suddenly there came a tapping, as of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door”. One of the fans came to invite us to the room party. I went there just for a few minutes. Well, this was the plan at least. In the end we spent there way more time chatting and trying local snacks and drinks. Because of our lack of Japanese skills it was challenging at times but I enjoyed the evening very much. And I had two different sake – one was even a bit geeky. Oh, and my t-shirt with Schrödinger’s cat planning his revenge was appreciated a lot :).
I tried two different sake. The other one was very tasty, but this had the best possible bottle!
Will I become a HAL-CON regular? I am afraid this is unlikely as 8000 km is a long distance to attend a convention. Yet I would love to keep coming back. So maybe you will be able to see another report from a Japanese convention here? Should the team succeed in bringing the Worldcon back to Japan I am sure I would do my best to attend!
You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.
My next post will appear within 2 weeks and will treat about Lajconik!