Sakura-Con

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Sakura-Con
Sakura-Con logo.
Status Active
Venue Washington State Convention and Trade Center
Location Seattle, Washington
Country Flag of the United States United States
First held 1998
Organizer Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA)
Attendance approx. 10,000 in 2007
Official website

Sakura-Con is an annual three-day anime convention held during March or April at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington. Sakura-Con is sponsored by the Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA).

Attendance has ranged from infants (with parents) to those in their 80s, with the majority as teens and early-twenties.[1]

Contents

[edit] Programming

The convention features a wide array of activities and programming such as: industry guests, various discussion panels, and anime screenings. It also sports a large and lively Exhibitor's hall where you can buy almost anything related (and not) to anime and Japan in general. Contests include anime music video, cosplay, fan fiction, a fashion show, and karaoke. Multiple J-Pop concerts featuring popular groups, nightly dances, an art show and auction, and a charity auction benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. A variety of gaming rooms provide console/video, PC/LAN, CCG, RPG, and tabletop gaming. And as with many anime conventions, Cosplay is an integral part of Sakura-Con.

[edit] History

Sakura-Con in 2006.
Sakura-Con in 2006.

Sakura-Con's roots are from within the local science fiction convention community. A number of anime fans who had decided that there was not enough anime content represented at conventions such as Norwescon, hatched the plan for an anime convention in a Tacoma, Washington anime video rental store.[2]

Originally named Baka!-Con, (baka or ばか is Japanese for idiot,) the first convention was held at the Double Tree Inn in Tukwila, Washington in 1998. In 2000, Baka!-Con changed its name to Sakura-Con, (sakura or 桜 (alternately: さくら) is Japanese for cherry blossom).

Sakura-Con's rapid growth prompted a search for larger venues. In 2004 and 2005 Sakura-Con had to limit its attendance to 5,100.[3] Even with the attendance cap, Sakura-Con was ranked the eighth largest anime convention in North America in 2004 by paid attendance figures,[4] and tenth in 2005.[5] When Sakura-Con moved to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington in 2006, it roughly tripled its capacity for attendees.

Since its beginning, starting with 313 anime fans, Sakura-Con has grown to be much more than a local event. In 2006, only about half the attendees were from the area.[6]

[edit] Event history

Dates Location Atten. Guests
April 24–26, 1998 Double Tree Inn
Tukwila, Washington		 313 Tony Butler, Bruce Duffy, Dr. Antonia Levi, Stu Levy, Sam Liebowietz, Neil Nadelman, and Ron Scovil.[7]
April 23–25, 1999 Double Tree Inn
Tukwila, Washington		 553 Yushin Daiko, Tiffany Grant, Tristan MacAvery, and Stan Sakai.[8]
March 31 – April 2, 2000 Double Tree Inn
Tukwila, Washington		 866 Yushin Daiko, Sandy Fox, Tiffany Grant, Lex Lang, Dr. Antonia Levi, Tristan MacAvery, Doug Smith, and Taka Koto Ensemble.[9]
April 27–29, 2001 Holiday Inn and Convention Center
Everett, Washington		 1,519 Steve Bennett, Hiroki Hayashi, Mitsutaka Iguchi, Pamela Lauer, Dr. Antonia Levi, Mary Ohno & The Kabuki Academy, Lorraine Reyes, Lia Sargent, and Taka Koto Ensemble.[10]
April 26–28, 2002 Seattle Airport Hilton
Seattle, Washington		 2,328 Johnny Yong Bosch, Jessica Calvello, Pamela Lauer, Dr. Antonia Levi, Hiroshi Nagahama, Noiro Shioyama, Tsunami Taiko, and Masakazu Yonemura.[11]
April 4–6, 2003 Seattle Airport Hilton & Conference Center
Seattle, Washington		 3,023 Fred Gallagher, Hilary Haag, Yukio Kikukawa, Hiroshi Nagahama, Michelle Ruff, Susumu Sakurai, Hidakazu Shimamura, and Yoshinobu Yamakawa.[12]
April 23–25, 2004 Seattle Airport Hilton &
Sea-Tac Marriott Hotel
Seattle, Washington		 4,425 yoshitoshi ABe, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Akitaroh Daichi, Michael Dobson, Gabe and Tycho, Fred Gallagher, Hiroki Kikuta, Scott McNeil, Hiroshi Nagahama, Monica Rial, Kaeko Sakamoto, Run Sasaki, Eric Sherman, Hiroko "hiro" Shimabukuro, Yasuyuki Ueda, and Yoshihiko Umakoshi.[13]
April 8–10, 2005 Seattle Airport Hilton &
Sea-Tac Marriott Hotel
Seattle, Washington		 4,745 Angela, Tom Bateman, Greg Dean, Gabe and Tycho, Kumiko Kato, Hiroki Kikuta, Hiroshi Nagahama, Ikue Ohtani, Run Sasaki, Tatsuo Sato, Travis Willingham, and Tommy Yune.[14]
March 24–26, 2006 Washington State Convention & Trade Center
Seattle, Washington		 7,500 The 404s, Katie Bair, Ippongi Bang, Jessica Boone, Camino, Gabe and Tycho, Fred Gallagher, Takanori Hoshino, Takahiro Kimura, Hideyuki Kurata, Tony Oliver, Piano Squall, Run Sasaki, Stephanie Sheh, Goro Taniguchi, David Vincent, and David Williams.[15]
April 6–8, 2007 Washington State Convention & Trade Center
Seattle, Washington		 10,500 A-Key-Kyo, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Akitaroh Daichi, Gabe and Tycho, K.T. Gray, Shawn Handyside, Kouta Hirano, Jeph Jacques, Kyle Jones, Jonathan Klein, Hideyuki Kurata, Jason Liebrecht, LiN Clover, Sam Logan, Vic Mignogna, move, Hiroshi Nagahama, Kaori Nazuka, Yasuhiro Nightow, Liam O'Brien, Piano Squall, Monica Rial, Rooster Teeth Productions, Carrie Savage, Sumi Shimamoto, Doug Smith, Spike Spencer, John Swasey, and Toshifumi Yoshida.[16]
March 28–30, 2008 Washington State Convention & Trade Center
Seattle, Washington		 Ali Project, J.L. Anderson, Robby Bevard, Caitlin Glass, Brandon Graham, Todd Haberkorn, Wes Hartman, Jerry Holkins, Yutaka Izubuchi, Yuna Kagesaki, Toshihiro Kawamoto, Roland Kelts, ketchup mania, Hiroki Kikuta, Mike Krahulik, M. Alice LeGrow, Vic Mignogna, Jake Myler, Hiroshi Nagahama, Joshua Ortega, Brina Palencia, Derek Stephen Prince, The Slants, SCANDAL, Yuji Shiozaki, and Nobuteru Yuuki.[17]

[edit] Organizational structure

The Asia-Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA) is a non-profit organization organized for charitable and educational purposes specifically for furthering the understanding of Asian culture through the use of traditional and contemporary media.

ANCEA is the organization that presents Sakura-Con. Originally a separate board of directors that provided oversight to the Sakura-Con Executive Board, the membership voted on July 30, 2006 to merge the ANCEA and Sakura-Con boards into a single entity. In this structure, the Chair of Sakura-Con is the President of ANCEA.[18]

Currently, Sakura-Con is the only event presented by ANCEA. ANCEA's structure allows for other events to be organized as sub-committees of the ANCEA board.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dizon, Kristin. "Diehard otaku display anime cosplay", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 24, 2006. 
  2. ^ Seven, Richard. "Odd and Proud", The Seattle Times: Pacific NW, August 20, 2006. 
  3. ^ Hutchens, Bill. "Sakura-Con fans wig out", The News Tribune, March 24, 2006. 
  4. ^ AnimeCons.com (January 1, 2005). Largest anime conventions of 2004.
  5. ^ AnimeCons.com (January 2, 2006). Largest anime conventions of 2005.
  6. ^ Seven, Richard. "Manga and anime addicts, don't forget your costumes.", The Seattle Times: Pacific NW, April 05, 2007. 
  7. ^ Baka!-Con 1998 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  8. ^ Baka!-Con 1999 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  9. ^ Sakura-Con 2000 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  10. ^ Sakura-Con 2001 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  11. ^ Sakura-Con 2002 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  12. ^ Sakura-Con 2003 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  13. ^ Sakura-Con 2004 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  14. ^ Sakura-Con 2005 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  15. ^ Sakura-Con 2006 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  16. ^ Sakura-Con 2007 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  17. ^ Sakura-Con 2008 Information. AnimeCons.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-30.
  18. ^ ANCEA (Revised July 30, 2006). Bylaws of the Asia-Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA) (PDF).

[edit] External links