Turning Japanese

Event poster. Photographs by Varuth Hiranyatheb and courtesy of Nippon Haku Bangkok

Popular expo returns

Since 2014, Japan Expo Thailand, the biggest Japanese pop culture event in Thailand, has gone from strength to strength. The annual expo is full of fun things to do and highlights the best in tourism, cuisine, fashion, entertainment and more from the Land of the Rising Sun.

This year, under the new name Nippon Haku Bangkok, the event took place on the 5th floor of Siam Paragon from August 31 to September 2. More than 80,000 people showed up to explore the expo’s five zones — education zone, job zone, anime zone, food zone and multimedia zone.

There were also live performances from the best in Japanese and local talent, including Kurosaki Reon, Toshihiko Nakazawa, Praew Kanitkul, Sweat 16 and the girls of the moment BNK48.

S Weekly was at Nippon Haku Bangkok 2018 to check out the best of the expo and take some fun photos to share with our readers.

Cosplayers are everywhere to be seen at the fun event.

Traditional shojoji dancers perform with parasols.

The food zone proves especially popular.

Attendees wait in line to buy sushi.

Stunning digital art by TeamLab from the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.

Performance by BNK48 2nd Generation.

Ultraman greets fans in the anime zone.

Attendees learn about Japanese culture by practising origami.

Origami pieces are attached to a structure representing a mountain.

A bird's-eye view of the event.

The new girl group Sweat 16.