Growing Japanese Culture within Taylor's community

 Group photoshoot of ⅓  the cosplayers during TAF 2012.
Photo by Davie Gan

IN an effort to promote Japan’s modern and traditional culture, Taylor’s Anime Society (TAS) have recently held their third Taylor’s Asaban Festival (TAF) 2012 at Taylor’s Lakeside Campus* last weekend. (* means it is related, read futher)

About 500 visitors attended the two-day (September 1 and 2) event which consist of members of the public and the ACG (Anime, Comics and Games) community.

Two of the convention’s VIP guests were Malaysia’s ACG convention representative Soloman Freeman and Japanese band Haku.

TAF has been known for its signature sessions, ‘Asa’ (Day) and ‘Ban’ (Night). The day session will focus on the ACG aspects, complete with figurines and doujin (self published works and products) booths, along with cosplayers and crossdressers. The night session will showcase (an example of) modern and traditional aspect of Japanese culture.

“The purpose of Asaban is to share our (TAS) passion and interest of Japanese culture to the local community. The event has been staged to promote our love of the Japanese culture while we (TAS members) learn to bond with each other before, during and after the event”, said TAS: Lakeside human resource director, Chong Er Whey.

“To me, this is the time whereby the members of TAS will have a chance to experience the pros and cons in organising a convention, it is a learning experience”, said TAS: Lakeside president 2012 Wong Jun Ee.

Figurines that were displayed throughout the two-day event.

Participants of the Moekana card competition are playing to win the
limited edition Touch 'n'  Go Mirai Suenaga card which was organised by Soloman.

Visitors were given a drawing booth and some drawing boards to explore or show-off their artistic side.
Photo by Zoe Gan

A group photoshot of Haku and their Malaysian fans after the concert.
Photo by Nadzmi

For TAF 2012, the agenda on September 1, four performances from local J-Rock bands were held throughout the day to keep the hall lively while visitors shop and browse through the doujin (self published works and products) booths in the Multi Purpose Hall*. At night, a band from Japan called Haku had their "J-Rock no Tamashii 3” concert at the Multi Purpose Hall* to entertain their fans and to showcase an example of Japanese pop culture and music.

While on September 2, prizes were given away to those who participated in the cosplay competition, the singing competition and Asaban Mini Quest (a remodeled version of ‘treasure hunt’) throughout the day. After that a night festival called Asaban no Matsuri had booths selling Japanese food and drink, with mini-games and activities to enhance the atmosphere; to give visitors the feel of traditional Japanese culture.

JOG members in their yukata during the night festival.

At the end of the event, members of the Japanese Otaku Guild (JOG) from HELP university mentioned that they will visit TAF again to support the event.