It is Nishikaze time again in Lethbridge as the fifth annual Nishikaze Anime Festival takes over the University of Lethbridge over the May long weekend, May 20 and 21.
As always Nishikaze, a celebration of Japanese culture focused on anime, features cosplay, photo opportunities, anime screenings, Cafe Ayako, a charity auction and an expanded marketplace inspired by Japanese street festivals called matsuri.
“There will be more Japanese culture this year,” said organizer Cynthia Cradduck.
“We’re expanding. We’re trying things we haven’t done before,” Cradduck said, noting the matsuri is the biggest change this year.
“Think of a Japanese marketplace. It’s like a home town fair on a sidewalk with people selling food and trinkets,” she continued. adding whole most of the events will be in Markin Hall at the university, the marketplace will be on the track in the U of L gym. There will be a Taiko drum group plus food, Japanese tea, crafts and games based on Japanese game shows including a Plinko board.
“There will be a scooping game based on the goldfish game where you have to scoop up as many as you can with a paper scoop before it falls apart, though we won’t be using goldfish, we’ll be scooping balls of paper. And there will be a hook game where you use a paper hook to catch prizes,” she said.
“It’s looking really good,” she said.
There will also be a variety of speakers and panels exploring Japanese tea, anime journalism and special guests including Edmonton based cosplay expert Missy Art and Cosplay discussing on how to create costumes and Calgary based voice actor Caitlyyne Medrek.
“She will be talking about how to get into voice acting. And she’ll be hosting the charity auction” Cradduck explained.
“Nishikaze’s focus is entertainment, community and cultural diversity in a fun, inclusive and accessible setting. It is also the goal of this festival to educate the public on the medium that is anime by providing a diverse as possible selection of available series and movies.”
The non profit festival has been a labour of love.“You’re part of something people really love and a lot of people love it because it is smaller. Even Calgary gets 8,000 people to their festival,” she said expecting,500 to stop by during Lethbridge Nishikaze over the course of the weekend.
General admission is $15 for the weekend including weekend admission wristband, guidebook and three game tickets
Admission is $10 for Saturday and five dollars for Friday. Tickets for youth are seven dollars.
