Two years ago we went to Jpop Summit, then more commonly known as the Ramen Festival, in Japantown and it was a complete and utter disaster. What seemed like the entire bay area had shown up for this free event with the hopes of having the best ramen they’ve ever eaten. Instead they were met with four hour long lines and a venue as crowded as Shibuya station during rush hour (though far less orderly).
Lots of hangry people at Jpop Summit/Ramen Festival 2014
And so it was with much apprehension that Michael and I decided to get tickets to attend. It ended up being a much better event than what we experienced back in 2014. Turns out, charging $25 for admission into the Fort Mason venue is a great method of crowd control. We were never stuck in any lines for more than a few minutes, and the festival provided more than enough attractions to make the admission fee worth it.
New venue for Jpop Summit 2016
A few highlights…
Food: What’s a festival without food? There were two different food vendor areas within the festival, one outside and one inside the building. A few different ramen restaurants set up stands in the outside area (“Ramen Summit”) adjacent to a circle of Japanese cuisine inspired food trucks. Inside were snack vendors and lots of sake available for tasting (“Sake Summit”). Food in general was a little pricey as can be expected from these events, but there was a nice variety and everything was very tasty.
Wait time for ramen: less than five minutes
Cultural Exhibits: I was pleasantly surprised at how many interesting exhibits there were at the festival showcasing various facets of Japanese culture. Among my favorites were the capsule hotel booth where you could actually try going into a real full sized capsule, and the Ukiyo-e workshop where we had a chance to make our own woodblock prints of the famous piece of art.
Try out a capsule!
Ukiyo-e printing workshop
Concerts: The main attraction at Jpop Summit were, of course, the concerts. Saturday and Sunday each had three different artists performing in the evening. We were there on Sunday and got to see Yanakiku, Silent Siren, and our main reason for going in the first place, World Order. Each artist got about 40 minutes to perform, totaling more than two hours of music per night. For fans of Japanese music, the evening concerts themselves are worth the $25 admission. We had a great time seeing World Order perform live, and will likely be back next year if they have an equally good lineup.
Great performance from World Order and the rest of the artists
Did you attend Jpop Summit? Share your favorite moments in the comments below!
