Doujima

This is the one doujin event that everyone I know is excited for. 2024 marks the 10th year anniversary of Doujima. With over 500 tables spanned over 3 halls, artists from all over the world gather to showcase their crafts. This is also the last event before wheeskars and I split off into individual tables. Farewell, Sameazarashi. (Fun fact, I’m the shark in same and wheeskars is the seal in azarashi)

Over the year, our catalogue has grown way too much. As Doujima was an event we have registered exactly a year ago, we could not have imagined needing separate tables. As a result, we spent a lot of time to prepare and shortlist our catalogue. Luckily for us, we had the foresight to upgrade to a corner table.

For this event, I decided to organise a stamp rally for the first time. With 11 participating artists, we prepared stamp rally freebies and merchandise for the lucky draw redemption. Participants will have to collect the rally cards and spend $5 at the participating booths to redeem a sticker. They could redeem prizes on the 5th and 9th stickers. It was an activity that we planned and looked forward to.

Fast forward to set up day, on Friday night. The venue looked like an airport with everyone queuing to enter with luggage. It was like a huge gathering, I met a lot of familiar faces and enjoyed catching up. We were let in a little past 9 pm. The halls were a little stuffy as the air conditioning was not turned on. Thanks to our prior planning, wheeskars and I quickly set up the table. Thereafter, I ran around to hand out items to the rally artists. After speed-running everything, I left the halls and went home.

To match the stamp rally’s theme, Nijisanji Kindergarten, I prepared to cosplay kindergartner Kuzuha with Aki as Kanae. The event went by quickly. I was able to meet and catch up with a lot of my long time friends. Lots of friends dropped by to support with food and drinks. We were parked right at the corner of the hall, near the loading bay. There was a long line of chairs where cleaning staff sat at the rest. They also enjoyed taking smoke breaks at the loading bay… The aircon was bad and the scent of smoke was strong.

The event was reasonably relaxed and chill. We had plenty of time to rest and chat with friends at the corner. My relatives and their friends decided to drop by the event as it was in a convenient location, so I took some time away from the booth to show them around. The day ended, and we quickly closed shop. I had cravings for Korean cuisine, so I googled for Korean restaurants in the mall and dragged Aki there. As we had dinner late, we stayed till closing time and got kicked out by the restaurant staff 😌

The next day, we both went as Xavier. This was the first time Aki cosplayed the bunny butler and I developed an interest to play with her bunny tail. Friends brought sustenance to fill our stomachs again. As day 2 has lesser traffic and footfall, we were able to run around to check out the other booths. There were so many amazing merchandise that I wanted. Spending over a hundred bucks in less than a minute is the norm. Poisoning friends who were not present physically to purchase items is also the norm 😁I managed to snag some goodies for my overseas friends.

The dinner menu was Japanese. Once again we stayed till the staff urged us to leave. This was the end of a 2-day blissful event.