From the Potsdamer Platz through the Friedrichstraße to the Brandenburg Gate, the Coca Cola Christmas Trucks were on a tour through Berlin once again. Like last year, it was the coldest day of the year (-13°C), only the heavy snowfall was missing.
Festivals
The third and last part of my Connichi 2010 coverage, a bit of everything.
The beginning, the large sales area, the park, the Halko Momoi concert, some pictures from this years World Cosplay Summit Qualification, the winners of this years World Cosplay Summit Qualification and this years special guests from Japan: OLIVIA, Rumi Shishido, “Halko” Momoi, You Higuri, Hiroyuki Yamaga, “Noir”, Yutaka Uemura, Gakuto Mikumo, Kumiko Uehara.
So here is the second part of my Cosplay Photo Collection. I was asked to show some convention shots, sales area, concerts, japanese guests, I’ll see if I can get some together, stay tuned for part 3.
I’m back in Berlin, back from this years Connichi in Kassel, a city about 360km away from Berlin and all I can say is, it was amazing.
The Connichi is an annual, 3-day Anime convention in Germany and one of the largest of its kind in the German-speaking world with over 15,000 visitors in 2010. Apart from Japanese artists that go on stage, Connichi hosts a variety of amateur performers showing plays and musicals, singing and/or doing standup comedy with anime-related themes.
Like the Leipzig Book Fair, the Connichi is also a place for many thousands of cosplayers and because that’s the only interesting reason for me to visit such a convention, I will show you some of the best cosplays I saw during my time in Kassel.
Horse Racing is interesting, but what could we add to make it a bit more interesting? That’s right, a chariot, welcome to Roman Horse Racing. Last Sunday, on a race track in Berlin’s Mariendorf district, 17 competitors showed us an exciting spectacle, fighting against each other to win the 10.000€ trophy.
Chariot racing was the most popular sport in Rome, appealing to all social classes from slaves to the emperor himself.
After we’ve seen all those beautiful cars, how about some airplanes? Big ones, Small ones, not as many as cars but there were quite a bit and people had the chance to buy a sightseeing flight in a plane of their choice.
And of course, what are Classic Days without the opportunity to show what’s yours by driving your car with maximum speed on a closed airfield.
Schönhagen, an airport about 30km from the border of Berlin, place of event of this years Classic Days 2010 with over 100 classic autos from the past 60 years.
I have to admit, I’m not a car-lover and I have no idea which car is the best car of all time but, it was quite interesting so see all these different models on one place, especially the ones you only get to see in magazines these days.
The third Asian festival this year, the Japan Festival Berlin-Steglitz (located in the Steglitz district of Berlin), but this time it was more like a little Japanese market rather than a festival. Tables loaded with all kinds of Japanese goods. Figures, books, Japanese snacks and foods, chopsticks and ramen bowls, all those things you wouldn’t find at your local supermarket.
I tried a japanese lemonade called Ramune, it tasted a bit like Sprite, but less sweet.
It also had a very pungent cough syrup after-taste.
And again I visited Berlin’s Gardens of the World because last weekend they celebrated the “Asian Dragon Festival”. It was quite interesting to see an original Chinese dragon carried by 15 helpers performing different figures. They also demonstrate a Chinese dragon kite, but only a small version of the normally 80meters long monsters.
The dragons are seen as wise, benevolent and bringers of good fortune. The heads are all individually hand painted, each one is unique with its own “character”.
I’m a big fan of the Japanese Sakura Trees and their Cherry Blossom Festival but sadly I don’t have the time to travel 12 hours just to watch them bloom.
So I visited the Japanese Garden of Berlin’s Gardens of the World and it seems that I wasn’t the only one who had that idea.
