Japan Festival 2019

Finally! The annual event to beat the January blues is upon us!!! The University of Iceland Japan Festival will be held on Saturday 26th of January 2019 at Veröld Hús Vigdísar, University of Iceland. And it´s of course FREE!

This year´s focus will be on Manga, and subsequently the lovely and amazing ms. Chie Kutsuwada will be giving a demonstration as well as hosting short seminars. We are also very proud to present two former Japanese students who are now actively pursuing a career in drawing and will be upstairs showcasing their artwork and teaching manga drawing from 2-4.

There will be plenty of opportunities to experience Japanese culture as the students of Japanese and various guests invite you to experience making real sushi, observing Japanese fighting techniques, learning how to write your name in Japanese, folding intricate origami, learning how to draw your own manga, discovering fantastical Japanese supernatural beings, dressing up in traditional Japanese clothing, figuring out where you´d like to travel to in Japan, and many many more…

It wouldn´t be a proper University Japan Fest without cosplay and of course, everyone is invited to dress up, it doesn´t have to be a Japanese character… it can of course be a Japanese character or … any kind of Japanese themed or Japanese applied character…. think Steampunk Samurai, Captain Lolita America… you get the gist!
Of course the NNC preliminaries have now moved to Midgard but consider this an opportunity to think on your feet and come up with a fun idea in a week and a half… judging acknowledges the short time span so the important thing is innovations, playfulness and generally having fun with it!

In the hall, where we´ll start the celebrations you´ll have the opportunity to observe ms. Chie Kutsuwada, manga artist extraordinaire drawing live, see students dancing pop idol dances, experience the best of the Jiu-jitsu and Aikido fighters of Iceland and towards the end get all the cosplayers up, well actually down, on the stage for the grand prize awarding.

Upstairs will be a kid-friendly (kids of all ages obviously) anime themed area devoted to arts, crafts and games, and guest can try their hand at folding origami, drawing manga and playing with traditional Japanese toys.

On the first floor there will be the reception, sushi course, Manga artist seminars, dress up room as well as the cosplay photographing and evaluation.

On the ground floor guests can experience all the different informative booths, literature, Japan Iceland association, studying Japanese at the University of Iceland, Japanese folklore, travel to Japan as well as the intricacies of Japanese calligraphy. Not to mention enjoy Japanese tea whilst nibbling on yummy Pocky and Osembe.

This year marks the fifteenth time the Japan Festival is held by the department of Japanese language and Culture at the University of Iceland. The event is jointly organized by the Embassy of Japan, who are graciously hosting the sushi course as well as the presence and presentations by the amazing manga artist, and the Japanese Language and Culture Course of the School of Humanities at the University of Iceland. The enthusiastic students at the Japanese Language and Culture Course have put all their effort together and will present various themes of Japanese culture in a unique and creative way.
One of the distinctive features of this festival is that many of the exhibitions are “hand-made” by the students, who have been planning, preparing, and working day and night in preparation.

Admission to the Festival is free and open to the general public. The Festival will begin at 13:00 and will be open until 17:00.

Looking forward to seeing you!

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