Sakura-Con: Three Days Celebrating Japanese Culture

If you’re into the Japanese culture of anime and manga, you would have had a great time at Sakura-Con.

Sakura-Con is an annual three-day anime convention held in early spring at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. The convention, which is traditionally held over Easter weekend, is the largest anime convention in the Northwest and is the 8th largest North American anime convention as of 2017. The volunteer based non-profit Asia-Northwest Cultural Education Association organizes the convention.

“Sakura-Con is one of the most popular annual anime/manga conventions in Seattle. There are various activities and panels open 24/7 during the three days. To list a few, there are cosplayers from different anime photo shoots, blood donations, art shows, guest speakers, getting autographs from voice actors, learning Japanese cultural traditions, concerts and special events. Sakura-Con lets us discover a lot of new things every year, and for some, it is a good opportunity to explore and self-motivates themselves into pursuing a career in the anime, manga, and gaming industries,” said Cindy Luong, president of the SCC Anime & Manga club.

This year’s guest stars include well known names in the culture, like Takanori Matsuoka,Chiharu Sawashiro, Shigefumi Shingaki and Yosuke Shiokawa.

Registration for next year’s convention is already open. The tickets are on sale for $45 for the whole three days. However, if you wait until next year to register, the price will be $80 at the door.

There is an alternative way to get the tickets at a discounted price. SCC Anime & Manga Club meets weekly on Thursday from 3:00 to 4:30 PM in the SORC room in the Student Leadership building. Members who contribute to the club for two quarters or more are eligible for $30 tickets.

Cindy Luong said, “Our club is a place where anime and manga lovers at SCC can share their knowledge and interests in anime and manga to the group, make new friends and connections and have fun in our small anime world in our club room, we also try our best to provide our members resources such as mini panels to either help them cosplay, draw, or take pictures of the events.”

Disclosure: Riley is a member of the SCC Anime & Manga Club as well as a member of our Editorial Board.