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 Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:04 am
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Jafax XX (Jafax 20) - Japanese Animation, Film, and Art eXpo
Websites: Main Jafax website and Facebook Page
JAFAX is back! See you June 24–26, 2016 in Downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.
It's at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel & DeVos Place Conference Center.The Amway Grand Plaza (conveniently connected to DeVos Place via skywalk)
Returning attendees and newcomers alike will enjoy panels, viewings, artists, vendors, popular guests, video and board games, contests, and learning more about Japanese visual culture.
I've gone to Jafax 16, Jafax 17, and Jafax 18 (2011 - 2013). Jafax during those years were at the beautiful Grand Valley State University campus, Allendale, Michigan. I've had a wonderful time at each con seeing wonderful Cosplay Outfits and very nice Cosplayers. I took Cosplay Photos and did Photoshoots at many locations on campus including wooded area, a beautiful fountain, stairways, buildings, and so much more!! Some of those Cosplay Photos can be found on this Guild.
I'm curious as to who is going and who they are Cosplaying. Time and money permitting I really hope to be able to go to Jafax 20. More info about the Convention below. Also would like to hear about your Jafax con experiences and feel free to post photos on this thread.
Guests: (Check out the Website for more info on the guests and a complete list)
Tyson Rinehart
Voice Actor. Writer. Musician. Comedian.
Jake Paque
Jake Paque is an actor, voice actor, writer and producer.
Brittney Karbowski
Brittney Karbowski is a voice actor.
Samantha Inoue-Harte
Samantha Inoue-Harte is an established and varied Entertainment Industry veteran.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:06 am
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Convention History:
About 22 years ago JAFAX began as the vision of Rob Grimes, a gentleman who lived in Grand Rapids and was a fan of anime from well into his childhood. He attended some conventions outside of West Michigan, but saw that this city could aspire to do what these conventions did, and (at the time) for free. The expo first launched in 1996 at Kendall Art College in Grand Rapids and was little more than a few screening rooms that gathered only about 150 people for single day. At the time, it was one of about ten anime conventions in the nation, but, for the first time, West Michigan got the opportunity to meet and connect with the larger anime and Japanese culture community. The following year JAFAX grew and included vendors, panels, and our first guest: Bob DeJesus.
From these humble beginnings, JAFAX soon moved to Grand Valley State University and slowly grew. Here, in the larger halls and classrooms, JAFAX screened its first premier, the movie Golgo 13: Queen Bee. Later premiers included the final two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion and a special version of the first episode of Cowboy Bebop. JAFAX 7 introduced the “JAFAX Girls”, our first mascots, and the show cracked the 1,000 attendee mark by 300 people! This was also the first year of the JAFAX Game Show, Win the Dunce’s DVDs, which later turned into the beloved closing ceremonies tradition, Door Phil.
By JAFAX 9, we had our first theme: "Anime Luau". The theme proved so popular they continued with “Summer of Love”, “Southern Fried”, “Zodiac”, “Night of the Living Otaku”, “Camp Anime”, “Rise of the Machines”, “Sweet Sixteen”, “Anime University”, “Cherry Blossom Festival”, “? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? B A ANIME”, and including this year’s 20th anniversary theme: Reboot: JAFAX 2.0".
In 2014 several months after our 19th show wrapped and we began planning for JAFAX 20, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan came to us and said that we were just too big and too spread out to be contained on one campus anymore. At our last year on campus, we had an estimated crowd of at least 5,500 people (and possibly more).
Through the years JAFAX has grown to include artists, contests, photoshoots, and more! Despite our transition, the goal of JAFAX continues to be to provide a fun and educational experience for people all over the Midwest who seek to experience Japanese culture. We hope you will join us in our next chapter as we continue to grow and expand our show into a new three-day and overnight format, with new guests and programming we have not been able to bring to our attendees before.
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