EOY Japanese Culture Festival
Hello everyone! EOY was held on 21 and 22 December 2024, and marks my last boothing event of the year. For this event, I had the honor to share the booth with a fellow Kuzuha fan. Our booth was aptly named “Kuzuha Shack” and we worked hard making new Kuzuha prints and merchandise for the booth. Initially, we had agreed to both cosplay Kuzuha for the event. However, I was plagued with stomach issues the whole week prior and felt dizzy and nauseous. I didn’t want to force myself so I cancelled my cosplay plans for the weekend. As such, I was able to spend the weekend leisurely and run around mingling with friends.
The standard booths for the event were priced at around 500 Singapore dollars, whereas the booths placed against the walls were around 530 Singapore dollars. As the pricing is a little steep, I have opted to share the booth. I noticed that a lot of my boother friends have opted to share booths due to the same reason. We were skeptical about earning back costs and making a profit, but we decided to just give it a try. If it wasn’t ideal we would just skip the event the next year. The last EOY I had tabled at was back in 2022, where sales were booming due to the rebound effect from the covid lockdown. My boothmate who was present for the last year mentioned that sales and crowds had been pretty good. We looked forward to see what the event would offer.
Flash forward to the event. I arrived around 10 am in the morning. My boothmate was already in the hall setting up. Interestingly, the event did not allow for a representative to collect passes for the table and we had to queue up to collect them individually. The venue was hectic and crowded in that morning with people rushing to the halls with their goods. I heard from friends that were sharing tables with more than 2 artists, the helper passes were priced at $60. Instead of the helper passes, they opted to purchase the normal entrance tickets at around $20. So some of them had to wait outside the hall while their friends set up the booths in their stead. There was also a different marketplace event called Public Garden held in a different hall. As entry was free for that event, I visited the event on my way to the toilet.
After quickly entering the hall and setting up the booth, my boothmate and I quickly dropped by Don Quijote to purchase our lunch. We were able to happily feast at the back of the booth as the early afternoon crowds were considerably sparse. Friends dropped by periodically and gifted us snacks and water. Due to that, one section of the table was dedicated to storing the snacks that we would feast on throughout the event. As the crowds were very manageable, I was able to leave my post frequently to chat with my other boothing friends and shop around. Throughout the event I swam around the booths organizing the dinner party and menu. We were able to comfortably enjoy some hot korean cuisine from Onggii after quickly closing the booth for the day.
The next day, rinse and repeat. I had some Gimbap and strawberry milkshake for lunch and we had Yakiniku for dinner. The event was really leisure and relaxing for me. I enjoyed interacting with customers and friends. The best part was being able to dress up and showcase my itabag with my nui and pape collection. I was really happy when fellow fans requested to take photos of them. I just wished that the speakers blasting from the stage was not so overly loud. My apple watch kept warning me about hearing damage throughout the day. It wasn’t a nice environment to shop at as the loud sounds stressed out everyone. Customers and boothers had to communicate via sign language instead as it was impossible to speak over the noise. I get that a large part of EOY is the stage activities and people do pay the entry fee just for the stage. Ideally, there could have been some more separation between the stage area and the artist alley. All in all, I enjoyed EOY. It was a fun event for me to interact and socialize. However, the crowds were sparse and the sales were not ideal. I imagine that a lot of the potential crowd may have been diverted to Comic Fiesta which was happening over the same weekend in KL, or they may have just preferred attending Public Garden next door as it was free. Nevertheless, the event would not be a priority in my considerations to table at in the future.
