When it comes to conventions, I try to never go to anything just once. It’s amazing how the vibe of an event can change in just one year. Case in point: Sakura Matsuri. Last year I was shivering in a sweatshirt within a markedly smaller than usual crowd. This year, I could barely navigate the sea of people, and it was so gorgeous and warm that I got a sunburn!

Highlights included delicious taiyaki, getting a “Very Good” fortune from the Shinto booth, and the amazing shirt pictured below. When I dashed over to take his picture, he told me he had gotten the shirt custom made. The back—you guessed it—says, “And it’s only one dollar.”

As usual, my favorite part of Sakura Matsuri was watching the Anime USA Cosplay Fashion Show. Even though I volunteer for AUSA, I have no part in planning the show (all I do is send out the newsletter announcement the week before), so it’s always a surprise to me. And every year, I think, “How did we FIND these people?”

This year we had much larger J-Pop stage and a larger audience to go with it. (Watch last year’s show here.) Aspiring voice actor Mario Bueno emceed the show, and I was really impressed by his professionalism—even when his mic died, he kept going.

And here are the winners posing with the AUSA sign. Zelda won first place—two free nights at the hotel for Anime USA 2012.

Were you at Sakura Matsuri this year? What were your highlights?