World Hobby Fair

Monday, February 1st, 2010 in: News, Travel

Sunday, February 1st. We need to wake early in order to get moving, today is a big day. The World Hobby Fair is coming to the Nagoya dome. A free event showcasing the latest and greatest toys, games, and knick-knacks, with 40,000 people milling around the floor of the giant arena. Now, imagine the kind of line to get into some event. We got to the Nagoya Dome station and there were already event coordinators shouting which way to go. We emerged from the subway station and saw the beast: a line tens of thousands of people long, wrapping its way through the city like a serpent, choking traffic and generally annoying everyone in and around it. Through all the twists and turns as we walked to the end, crying children and impatient parents were mixed in with the excitement and anticipation of the event that lay ahead. Hiro stopped and asked one of the event workers if this was indeed the line for admission to the showcase, and not the merchandising area. はい、そうです。申し訳ありません。Yes, it is. I’m terribly sorry.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN9YdOB0H8Y

It took us half an hour to walk to the 最後尾, the very end of the line. We had walked beyond one of the subway stations we passed on our way there. Nagoya dome popped in and out of view as we rounded corners and went through tunnels alongside the steady stream of people facing the opposite direction. We picked up a few friends along the way who were tired of waiting alone, so they joined us at the end of the line. As the crowd heaved forward, more people arrived to fill in the tail, ensuring that the end of the line would never move forward. The wait? Roughly 150 minutes, according to the guy holding the 最後尾 board. This prediction would be relatively accurate, as it was nearly noon by the time we entered the dome itself.

Rounding the corner at the top of the stairs leading down to the arena floor, we were greeted by familiar characters floating idly in the form of giant balloons, jostling for attention above the swarming crowd. Our north star was a giant red yo-yo hovering over the Bandai stage, beckoning us to take shelter under it. Bandai Namco, one of the largest toy companies in Japan, has foreseen another yo-yo boom, and has thrown its hat into the ring in a big way, joining forces with YoYoFactory, Yomega and Duncan to drum up interest, and fronting quite a bit of capital to do a huge marketing push, replete with advertisements, TV spots and event performances like this one. They’ve allocated 200,000 yo-yos just for promotional giveaways, thirty or fourty thousand of which were handed out at this event alone. The stage itself was an impressive display; Bandai doesn’t do anything half-assed.

Flashy lighting, a huge display, and an energetic MC greet the children crowded around the foot of the stage. A yo-yo player from each company comes out in turn and shows off some tricks. Shun from YoYoFactory, dressed in blue, for the hip hop crowd. Rei in red, for the rockers. Ryuji in a black and white suit, for the young host crowd. The performances themselves didn’t include any terribly difficult tricks, but the choreography was tight and impressive. They had a Bandai employee, an American dressed in a referee outfit, come out to show the international appeal of the yo-yo. He spoke Japanese with a thick American intonation, grating on my ears a little. This isn’t because I expect anything more from my fellow foreigners, but given that he’s a Harvard graduate and a regular 社員 for a Japanese company, he probably speaks perfectly fine Japanese. The accent is for the sake of the audience, who apparently wouldn’t be able to recover from the shock. Ah well, it’s all part and parcel of being a gaijin; you can let it bother you or you can accept things for what they are and move on with your life. For some people, this role is their livelihood. Just look at Bob Sapp.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2IirivWMEk

After the last major demonstration of the day, we decided we were done with the event and headed for the door. Our reward was Yama-Chan, an izakaya chain known for featuring Nagoya dishes. We enjoyed tebasaki (a fried chicken) and motsu (some kind of entrails). They even got me to try natto omelette, which I admitted wasn’t half bad. Exhausted, Shinya and I both laid our heads down and took a nap while everyone else finished eating and chatting. We had barely made it home before I passed out in my room, totally spent.

Tomorrow, the real work begins!

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