HALLYU MATSURI: WHERE CULTURES COME TOGETHER | By Wong Shin Yeng
Illustration by Nicole
Photo by Taylor's Anime Society and Taylor's K-Generation
Have you ever wondered what would happen when two cultures meet? The fun doubles, of course! Hallyu Matsuri, a Korean-Japanese cultural festival was held on 12 January from 10am-5pm at The Grand Hall, Taylor's University Lakeside Campus. Hallyu Matsuri is a combination of the phrases ‘Korean Wave’ in Korean and ‘Cultural Festival’ in Japanese. The cultural event was a collaboration between Taylor’s K-Generation (K-Gen) and Taylor’s Anime Society (TAS), following their signature events ‘Hallyu Festival’ and ‘Akifest’. Tickets were priced at RM10 for early birds and RM15 for walk-ins. Additionally, if the attendees wore the Hallyu Matsuri T-shirt, they could enter the venue for free. The event was proudly sponsored by Kewpie, U.S. Pizza, Sushi King, and The Golden Stock.
Pre-Event
Before the actual Hallyu Matsuri event, a two-day fundraiser was held at the Student Life Centre Walkway on 10-11 January. Attendees could purchase their Hallyu Matsuri tickets, refreshments, and various K-Gen and TAS merchandise at the booths. The highlight of the pre-event fundraiser was the flashmob, featuring a dance performance by the committee members of K-Gen which showcased the spirit of Hallyu Matsuri. Watch the recap of the pre-event on K-Gen’s Instagram (@kgentaylors) here!
D-Day
As you step into The Grand Hall, you can see the venue was decorated with prismatic paper lanterns and Koinobori, which are Japanese carp-shaped windsocks. There were also various booths scattered around the big hall and charming cosplayers welcoming the excited attendees.
At 10AM, the long-anticipated Hallyu Matsuri finally commenced. The emcees, as well as the organising chairpersons of Hallyu Matsuri 2023, CJ and Denise, kicked off the festival by giving everyone a warm welcome and extending their gratitude to the vendors and attendees.
Exciting Booths
Photo by Tommy Lim
There were a total of 28 booths for the attendees to browse through from the local vendors as well as the event’s sponsors.
There were many vendors to check out by the local artists such as TheBouncyJelly, Minisaurusrx Illust, and Himawari if you are looking for cute handmade accessories and art prints. Want your dose of K-Pop or Anime merch? Check out Yuehyme Cartel, Softcloud, Jetszui_Artz and Melloryn for fan-made merchandise. Handmade goods from Doodadop, MiemieSheepSheep, TooCuteKnot and many more were also up for grabs.
What better way to appreciate a culture’s beauty and also get Insta-worthy pictures than wearing their cultural clothing? Attendees could rent Kimonos and Hanboks from Unni Wardrobe starting at RM20 to get the full Hallyu Matsuri experience.
Aside from the vendors, attendees could also visit the game booths to get a chance to walk away with amazing prizes and goodie bags. Try your luck with the lucky draw, or test your skills with a game of Shateki, which is a game of target shooting or Fukuwarai, translated as Lucky Laugh, where players attempt to place cut-outs of facial features onto a face. Attendees could even try to be a VTuber by visiting NDS Malaysia College’s booth with their astounding Interactive 3D Avatars.
Amazing Cosplayers
Photo by Tommy Lim
Any Anime Fans out there? These cosplayers at Hallyu Matsuri will surely make you swoon. Attendees could meet and greet the cosplayers cosplaying characters from Genshin Impact, Nijisanji En, Arknights and many more. Although Hallyu Matsuri was a small-scale event, its atmosphere felt like it can be comparable to the large conventions, with the cosplayers posing at the photo booth and mingling with the attendees as well as participating in fun games with them.
From left to right: Eva, Honura Sakura and Bosco as Mysta Rias, Aia Amare and Ike Eveland from Nijisanji En
Photo by Taylor’s Anime Society
“Although the event was of a smaller scale, I can see the hard work that the committee has put into hosting it. Overall, it was a good event and I hope more people can come to join in the fun in the future!,” said Eva, who cosplayed as Mysta Rias during the event.
“I was worried that I would be the only cosplayer participating in the event but turns out there were around seven to eight cosplayers that attended which is very good. I finally found people with the same interests as me and worked together to entertain those who participated in Hallyu Matsuri. So it was a very unique experience to see cosplayers who work towards the same goal,” said Bosco, who cosplayed as Ike Eveland.
From left to right: Ari and Raemi as Ramlethal Valentine from Guilty Gear -Strive- and Runa Yomozuki from Kakegurui
Photo by Taylor’s Anime Society
“Cosplaying a character from a niche series, people didn't interact with me that much. Though, when people did, it was rewarding because I got to learn that we share the same passion for this niche series we both like. I got to chat with them and overall, I think I made some new friends there,” said Ari, also known as Pissantcos.
First row from left to right: Zombroszy as Alhaitham, Catherine as Hatsune Miku and Eva as Mysta Rias.
Second row from left to right: Ari as Ramlethal Valentine, Nathan as Venti, Bosco as Ike Eveland, Nora and Nao as Lumen and Enforcer
Photo by Taylor’s Anime Society
Heartstopping Performances
The moment when the six drummers came forward, their stage presence became prominent among the crowd. The first drummer raised their drumstick, and the show began. The performances start strong with a powerful sequence from Taylor’s 24 Festive Drums.
Taylor’s 24 Festive Drums
Photo by Taylor’s K-Generation
Taylor’s Lakeside Dance Club pulled off their fierce dance cover of the South Korean girl group Twice’s Japanese track, Perfect World. As the song transitions, they pull on the audience's heartstrings with Blackpink’s Crazy Over You. Dancing to the oriental rhythms and hip-hop bass, they definitely made a few attendees their new fans.
Taylor’s Lakeside Dance Club
Photo by Taylor’s K-Generation
K-Gen took the stage with their one-of-a-kind performance with Blackpink’s Shut Down. They won over BLINKS at the scene with their charisma and dance moves that were full of energy.
“Speaking from my position as the organising chairperson, I could see that they forked out a lot of their extra time to practice their best and their effort certainly pulled off as people enjoyed their performance. From an audience’s point of view, the version they danced to was not the original version hence adding more of the wow factor to it,” said Denise Chang, one of the organising chairpersons of Hallyu Matsuri and the Vice President of K-Gen.
Besides, K-Gen’s Angeline, Sheryl, Zi Tian, Rachel and Zheng Sheng slayed the stage with Antifragile by Le Sserafim. It was a sight to behold as the audience buzzed with excitement at their staggering and confident moves.
From left to right: Angeline, Sheryl, Zheng Sheng, Zi Tian, and Rachel from K-Gen
Photo by Taylor’s K-Generation
With her mesmerising vocals, Rhea, from Taylor’s Society of Performing Arts (SPART), brought forward her heartwarming rendition of I Am Not Alone by Priscilla Ahn as the audience swayed along to the melody.
Rhea, from SPART
Photo by Taylor’s K-Generation
Next, attendees also got to witness the performance by the award-winning Valerinx. The three-year-old dance crew took the show to a crescendo with their impressive moves and stage presence.
Valerinx
Photo by Taylor’s K-Generation
The soloist, Jinny also made an appearance as he brought forward a vocal performance like no other.
Jinny
Photo by Taylor’s K-Generation
Interactive Games and Random Play Dance
An interactive game session was also prepared for the participants to have fun with each other at the event. With Guess That and Charades, the games allowed them to compete and work together to achieve victory.
Photo by Tommy Lim
K-pop fans also receive their dose of fun with Random Play Dance, where participants could get a chance to shine as they danced along to their favourite K-pop songs such as Ditto by NewJeans, That That by PSY and SUGA of BTS, Guerilla by ATEEZ and more that got their blood pumping.
Photo by Tommy Lim
Even the cosplayers joined in on the fun. Catherine, who took the stage donning their Senbonzakura Hatsune Miku cosplay, expressed that they got to interact with other good dancers and meet new cosplayer friends that also joined in on the dance.
“The combination of Korean and Japanese culture was what made Hallyu Matsuri unique, during the event, there were cosplayers joining the Random K-pop Play Dance and it was quite a sight,” said Denise.
In the end, Hallyu Matsuri succeeded in not only bringing two cultures together but also in cultivating new friendships and experiences. It was a marvellous sight to see people with different interests come together to be part of this wonderful festival.
Photo by Taylor’s K-Generation and Taylor’s Anime Society
A special shoutout to the committee members for their months’ worth of hard work and dedication. Without them, Hallyu Matsuri wouldn’t have been a success.
You can follow K-Generation (@kgentaylors) and Taylor’s Anime Society (@taslakeside) on Instagram.
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