Once again, myself, Yosenex (WoL's photographer), and Brad from MoonKitty went to a Japanese doujinshi event together. This time it was called "Amichan no Ochakai" which translates to "Ami's Tea Party" and was located in Akihabara. Pictures in this article were taken by Yosenex (except when they're of him.)

We also had a fourth person in attendance, a friend of Yosenex's named Jared, who came cosplaying for the event. He drew crowds in the main "Electric Town" entrance of Akihabara, with everyone from tourists to the girls in maid costumes that hand out flyers asking to take photos.

With a can of Chu-Hi in hand, anyone can become a sailor senshi,
and wind up having that permanently recorded in internet form.

I won't forget the dropped jaws of Japanese shopkeepers in the Akihabara area as the four of us walked toward the location where the event was being held.

Much like the previous two events (see Fall 2005 and Spring 2006) the event itself was located in a small hall. We paid an entrance fee of 400 yen (waived for anyone who came cosplaying as Sailor Mercury), and received a pamphlet as well as an Ami-chan sweet bean-paste bun.

Only one was actually willing to eat it.

In one corner of the room was a small flat panel showing various episodes of the series on DVD. The middle consisted of various tables of doujinshi artists selling some of their books, or people selling various Sailor Moon goods. In the back was an area for shooting the numerous cosplayers who attended.

The variety of official Sailor Moon goods was fairly limited, mainly keychains, cards, or stickers, but Yosenex picked up a Sailor Luna henshin phone for 1,000 yen. Unlike the other events, which seemed to have greater interest and focus in the doujinshi selling, the number of things for sale was highly limited this time, and the number of people actually making purchases few in number. One person had interesting garage kits at his table, but they didn't seem to be for sale.

That is indeed Jupiter Bunny

Instead, greater emphasis was put on the cosplayers; both the people themselves, and the Japanese fans pushing for photos in a piranha-like fashion. A selection of photos from the event:

She later showed up again as school-girl Minako

I call her "Bubble" Jupiter.

The best part about that last picture was that the bubbles refused to pop, instead they got stuck to the floor, which we found out earlier in the main room. As a result, when they saw that he was going to use the bubbles again, two of the Japanese fans followed us out to the hallway with a garbage pail and began picking up the bubble "imprints" following the photo.

There is a Japanese version of the Sailor Moon card game, and the flyer for the event advertised a "tournament." I think at most three or four people brought their packs with them, but Yosenex brought his and learned how to play for the first time.

Yosenex plays the Japanese Sailor Moon Collectible Card Game

One of the more interesting things about this event was the use of international Sailor Moon themes as background music. Chinese, Italian, German, and many other countries' versions of Sailor Moon songs were represented. Toward the end they finally played the English-language theme, to which Brad, Yosenex, and Jared sang along.

This was by far the most fun of the Sailor Moon doujinshi events we've been to. (I think for the Japanese fans, Jared was the highlight of the event, as they roared with laughter each time he said an attack phrase from the show, and all lined up to take photos.) We had found in previous events that the Japanese fandom was a bit shy and uninterested in talking with that odd group of foreigners (each time we were the only ones) who showed up.

But the same people come over and over to these events, and I think that since this is (for myself and Yosenex at least) the third time we've come, things were a little more natural.

The event ended at 3pm with a large group photo of all the cosplayers. Below are a few other pictures taken at the event.

The only two who were missing were Mars and Pluto. (Although, for some reason, they had a Pluto Time Staff.) When we first walked in, a Rei passed us on the way to elevator, but she seemed to have gone and no one took her place.