Yeah, so I wrote journal about FurFright 2012 on my blog.
http://kemoners.blogspot.com/
(*It’s in Japanese.)

This con was such a mess. Too many bad things happened at once (morning false alarm, drama, hurricane, etc...). I mean no offence to FurFright committee. I know they are striving best to make better con and I can feel that. But yeah, this con wasn't the best one I have to say. :(

Anyhow, thanks to everyone who I met in con! It was such a fun to draw artwork and talk to people. I enjoyed that moment so much.

Recently, I read an interview of Uncle Kage from Boring Pittsburgh. It really opened my eyes and thus I decided to translate it to share with Japanese buddies!

So here you go! This is Japanese version of the interview:
Interview: Dr. Samuel Conway aka Uncle Kage, CEO of Anthrocon.

As a side-note, I have asked and received permission from both Kage and Boring Pittsburgh.

So yeah. I am starting blog AGAIN just because the blog that I spent most of time posting all the convention review disappeared without any notice. C'mon Pixiv blog!!

Anyhow, now I'm on Blogger. Yeah, I'm being Google Whore recently:
http://kemoners.blogspot.com/

I know most of the readers don't read Japanese, but I am hoping you can get sense of what I am saying and how I was excited. At least pictures should help.

I usually don’t write journals, especially ones regarding Conventions—well, I don’t use FA at all, really—but this time, there is no way I can keep my mouth shut because it was just too good. Honestly, I’ve been to many cons for three years now, but this surely was the best one. I played a major role and succeeded in bridging the Western and Eastern anthropomorphic cultures.


Coincidentally, there were three separate Japanese groups that came to AC this year: a TV crew from the popular Japanese TV program, Samma no Mamma; a huge individual tour group from Japan; and the guest of honor, Sardyuon-san. And I assisted groups and groups (well, maybe not much with Mamma-chan group since they had had their own interpreter, fortunately.) Thanks to Uncle Kage, I was the official Japanese interpreter of Anthrocon!


Being Sardyuon-san’s( mighty-creation) interpreter was a privilege. He is the most talented, energetic, elegant yet dynamic fursuit performer I’ve ever seen. My heart was beating SO loud when he was piling FIVE chairs on top of that unstable deck. If you were watching his performance from the front, you had no idea how unstable and shaking it was. I could tell because I was watching from the side! We didn't worry Kage with this info (to save him a heart attack), but it was only the second time he actually performed that trick in public. Sardyuon had practiced so hard just to perform his most dynamic trick for the stage of his dream, Anthrocon. I’m totally looking forward to seeing him again next year. I heard he already has an idea for if he is coming back... ;)


And again, there were many Japanese companions this year. There were a total of thirteen acquaintances that came from Japan just for Anthrocon, and there were many other individual Japanese people I met during Con.

(Aster,  dragonia1911,  sekki, OTK,  scra, Pow-san, Jima,  yoshinomi, Rsa, Guryu, Suruga,  coin05, and  mangluca.)

I mean.. thirteen! This is remarkable. So what do you expect next year? Thirty? Forty? Perhaps in near future, we'll have to charter an airplane to bring them here. (Furry Air Bus? Heh, maybe not too bad an idea.)


Anyhow, I am glad that they had a good time at AC as well. Though most of them had a limited ability to speak English, they tried so hard to communicate. As a matter of fact, I heard they became friends with an American fur in a bar and end up being treated to a round of beers. That is one big virtue of this community: though we speak different languages, we share the same language in terms of loving anthropomorphic figuress. Truly remarkable.

 FullNekoAlchemist Played a huge role to serve us drinks as a furry bartender.  SoreThumb introduced them to an American style party. Thanks guys. You guys rock!!


Having breakfast with Kage was another remarkable event during this Con. It was a small breakfast at Furnando's with all the Japanese visitors. We had gifts for him, which ended up seated nicely in his treasure display-- I’m so happy about that! He really made me tear up a few times this con..! The biggest emotional moment was when he told me that, “[I am] doing a fantastic job to bridge Japan and America!” And that was what I was striving for. Also, I would like to thank Oose-san who was being Sardyuon-san’s secret agent. He was such a nice guy.


Alright, that sounds like too much already, but there's even further I must say.. I was a liason/agent for the Japanese at the Artshow, introducing more than twenty art pieces from Japan. It was my first time participating in the Artshow as an artist as well, and was a thrilling experience for me. Thanks for all the artists participated. As a result, eh, it was diverse: some artworks were bid on a lot and some, unfortunately, didn’t even sell.. Made me feel that I should do some research and advertisement prior to Con—Indeed! I’m doing that again next year. I am so looking forward for revenge!!

Artists who participated:  Sateko  mick39 Jyoka, Fol-ko, Akitaka, Oosaki Eru, Akatsuki Yu-ki, Shirokoma, Yourwhitecat, Dogear, and Rugaro


So yes, that was my AC this year…oh my, there were just too many things. I enjoyed it so much. I even enjoyed having blisters on both of my pinky toes! As one smirch, I realize there is one Japanese guy doing a “smear campaign” of the "notorious Imuhata" during and before ac.. (I think he is jealous of what I am doing. I pity him.), But nah, I know he is failing at convincing people. I don’t even care now; this AC was that epic.

This year was surely a milestone for bridging American and Japanese anthropomorphic culture. Now, at least people in the fandom know there is some furry culture in a land of rising sun, and so I feel I accomplished my goal for this year.

FAアカウントまだ生きてる!!!

I just started helping  kemonono for setting up his FA page. So please come visit. He draws many pretty artworks. Oh yeah, please kindly(kindness is the key) tell me if you find any error on grammar that makes him look bad. I mean, I can speak English a bit, but I’m not an expert. Your support is always appreciated.

Beside that, I’m just starting up this project, which is all about translating Japanese dojin to English; I’m just hoping to distribute kemono stuff here in US. Currently, I’m thinking to sell translated materials in Japanese DLsite(In near future, I would like to publish and sell a printed material too, but maybe not now.), however, I’m looking somewhere better. As some people might already know, Japanese censorship is very strict and you are not allowed to publish any porn without censorship…which isn’t that cool.

If you know any good site that allow you to sell furry porn in US, I’ll beg for your information. Or if you HAVE a DL site, and/or have ability to manage one, that is fantastic too. Please contact me!!

Well yeah… so lot of thing is happening in once. Even in my real life too. Hope everything be in shape before Christmas…

So, FurFright is over. I assume us all going back to our daily life, and suffering ourselves into post con depression.

I had such a nice time this year. Well, this was one of the calmest and moderate Cons that I’ve ever experienced. I think I’m being use to the furry convention in general. How nice.

I traveled along with  Sorethumb and  Fullnekoalchemist , You guys are the always coolest.
And split the hotel room with  Zerohenry and  Yifferfox, the high status brothers.
 Myrilla, congratulations being so popular in Japan! *hug*
 Jinsei and parties, Dr. Pepper photo was simply hilarious. It made this Con truly remarkable. No, I’m not kidding.
Also, big thanks to Con stuff who made it possible to let me have a panel.
There are many many more people I would love to give thanks, but it simply never ends, so let me go on. I love you though!!

Downside. As other major Con, internet really SUCKED in this Con. I mean, I know this was their first convention in new hotel, but I expected it to work fine by the last day. But no, it wasn’t really enjoyable…especially when we are talking with our Japanese kemono friends. I’m hoping them make it better next year.



Panel. It was my first panel in Furfright, and third panel related with Kemono. Thank you for whoever came to watch it. It was really big surprise for me having that many audiences though it happened in a relatively tiny room that truly difficult to spot in maze-like hotel. I’m really glad people found interest in it, and hoping to express and enjoy kemono arts by oneself.

Kemono is yet relatively tiny subculture in both Japan and America. I’m hoping it becomes more popular in a right way and more intercultural between East and West; that is my ultimate goal. As I explained in the panel, there are many similarities between kemono and furry. It is unfortunate that furry people do not know much about kemono though Japan is one of the most unique countries that has own furry culture beside America.

At same time, I realized there are many cultural problems that have to be solved. For instance, I found out some Japanese kemoners are unpleased by my panel. (It was extremely small amount of peoples, but still I can’t simply ignore their opinion.) I assume that there are mainly two major problems: 1.) since many Japanese peoples are very conservative, they might not welcome all Westerners, and 2.) they believe I’m not enough credible to do a panel related with kemono. For the former, maybe time will resolve the situation. If kemono become popular in America as it is in Japan, I believe artwork would extinguish the language barrier in near future; currently, supply of the kemono artists is relatively tiny compares to demands. Later issue, well, there are certain amounts of people dislike me being “represent” of kemono culture. That, I can’t help it. I’m trying my best not to set a border for the definition “kemono.” As furry have a wide variety and diversity of meaning, kemono has similar problem too. So I’m trying my best not to limits a definition, but sounds like they just hate me by standing in front at the panel. Well, sorry, you weren’t there; someone needs to do it! :P

Anyhow, I’m still thinking to make a Japanese subtitled version of presentation and upload on Youtube or equivalent, but I don’t know… I might have to start presentation all over because recorded video was pretty blurry…

For next panel opportunity, I’m expecting to make a new presentation to make it better and organized. I’m aiming to add more Japanese cultural facts and kemono pictures too! So please come back next time!

So, Anthrocon is over. Yet, I believe it is just a new beginning of something.
In this AC, which was second AC that I experienced, I met various people and furs. I had such a great time in there. Also, I had memorable experience in my panel. In Japanese kemono intercultural session, number of people showed up and I was really satisfied with what I always wanted to do. Honestly, I did not expected that number of person in my panel. So it was quite a surprise.
It clearly shows that kemono, the Japanese furry needs to be get larger in English community. People are interested in Japanese culture! That is really wonderful! But to make it larger and spread, someone have to do something. Used to, I was not very ambitious about spreading this kemono, but throughout my experience in AC, I'm really motivated to spread the words and arts!
So yeah, this journal is a good start I believe. I don't know how much I could do, but I still want to bridge between East and West.