‘Workin’ Mom’ at Honolulu Kawai’i Kon
Disclaimer:
Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics Covered: Live Gaming, Crafting, Board Games, Video Games, Social Interaction, Cosplay, KPOP, Fan Signings, Anime
Seattle has conventions - and so does Hawaii!! So when in Rome, do as the Romans - and attend Hawaiian conventions. But this event is more “as the Hawaiians do” and attend Japanese conventions. Cause Japan owns a lot of Hawaii and the culture dominates!! This event was full fledge kawaii anime cuteness + epicness. Let’s see what the Kawaii Kon’s 3 day event had to show the people attending.
Why Attend: Anime is so popular, even if you’re not a fan, you’re aware. Since Hawaii is so close to Japan, relative to the rest of the USA, it’s got a HUGE amount of citizens there… living, hanging, investing. So the Kawaii Kon attracted huge crowds at the Honolulu Convention Center. It was an event I’d never been to before, the most similar was one time in Shanghai I stumbled upon a convention similar, but with my new KT lenses (metaphorical Kelly Tutors new glasses) I felt like it’d be intersting to check out. What does their convention center look like? What companies would be here? Any snacks/food? (lol) Does Hawaii host events different than mainland? Live up to the hyped crowd’s expectations? Let’s find out!!
Event Review Rating: Venue (3.5/5), Food (2.5/5), Speaker Content (2/5), Networking (2/5), Likeliness to Return (5/5)… (more below)
Photo Commentary & Collage:
Event Blog Notes:
This event was so severely underwhelming (and I think having my daughter + a broken stroller cramped my ability to engage) but we only attended like a hour on the first and last day of this three day event. I will write some of the highlights below, but this will be a shorter blog. But for sure there were great parts to it!! But, just not great enough to be there versus all of the other Hawaiian wonder!!
Getting There
I really love walking so much, especially with my daughter and our stroller, or just walking. I will walk everywhere, all day, no problem. But when you're pushing a stroller with a busted wheel for days on end, it makes you consider what’s worth walking to.
Day 1: Walked the entire way from my hotel. Not even mad, but it was tough and I wasn’t sure I’d do it again.
Day 2: Upgraded to a double-decker bus. Way better. We didn’t even use the stroller the second day!! That little 2yo rocked her shoes, girlll. It was awesome.
The journey was actually super fun. We found random, cool things along the way—Hawaiian light displays, shops, street vendors, art, animals...
Inside the Convention
The Honolulu Convention Center is a NICE venue. It has a full outdoor rooftop, high ceilings, plenty of space, well-lit. But something about it felt like the wrong size venue for this event? Or it needed more people. It’s just a little confusing to get a round and a lot of empty space. Seemed there could have been more booths, but it is so “middle of nowhere” Hawaii.
But almost every here was dressed up. I didnt’ get enough pics of costumes but also I didn’t even think to take many. Wanted to just have it be organic.
Vendors were surprisingly sparse—I expected a LOT more variety or name brand companies, but again - it’s so far from mainland, so it was mostly local companies and handmade things for sale. Not like typical conventions I’ve seen.
‘Opening Ceremony’ - completely unexpected
The event opened up with a screen typing messages to the audience in real time. Turns out it’s a fan favorite from each year, like “Zing Bot” from Big Brother hahah I’d assume. But this was nicer and funny. It just live-typed on the screen as a host introducing the show, it was so clever. Super interactive.
Someone yelled, "I love you!" and the screen typed back, "I love you too!"—off script, everyone cracked up.
Then, it started making typos—which, honestly, made it feel more human. It was awkward, charming, and way funnier than expected.
They asked if anyone had grapes. (??? No context. No explanation.)
A baby made a sad noise in the crowd, and the screen told the baby, "Don't be sad."
It was so random but so good.
Then they rolled a hype video with a narrator telling us:
"Choose your fighter. The world can be confusing, no walk in the park. You can be a lover or a fighter—whatever you desire."
I thought the opening ceremony would be performances or some speech…but no, it was just introductions of everyone - hahah. Like they introduced you to so many bands but they didn’t play the music.
Japanese Industry Icons Bringing the Hype
HUGE names in anime, video games, and voice acting were here.
Kawaii Kon’s founder and CEO comes up first—he’s dressed super casual (unexpected CEO/founder vibes).
They introduce an emcee—she hypes up the CEO, calling him handsome.
The emcee limps on stage. (???) Bold choice. No explanation.
Just seems they could pick someone who was a bit more (I’ll say it: in shape/healthy!!) but tehy were struggling to walk along the stage and they were the EMCEE? limping? What a weird tone to set. Can’t you find someone bubbly and hyped for your crowd? Not this… kinda caucasian grandma!! Idk - but it turns out she’s multilingual. But idk. Just off a bit.
Then, a super famous Japanese actor walks out.
Everyone cheers.
He switches between Japanese and English and everyones sho hyped he’s here.
He’s been to Hawaii many times but never made it to Kawaii Kon until now.
Like used to be in a bunch of actions movies and stuff.
Another guy (Studio Ghibli Legend) Comes Out & YELLS
Worked on Kiki’s Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky.
"I’m HERE FROM JAPAN!" (everyone screams).
Says he smuggled secret animation footage on his flight.
I’m like - bro, be careful, cause I attended the event on non-insider-trading and they said you have to be careful with what you disclose at events (but thats for publically traded companies only, right? hahah so, you’re good, share your secrets…. but just be careful!)
"If you don’t come to my panel, you’ll REGRET IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE."
The "Are You Happy?" Band
One band came on stage and just kept asking:
"Are you happy?!" (Yes?)
"ARE YOU HAPPY?!" (Okay, yeah, we get it.)
"LET'S FKING GO!!"
Then they didn’t play anything. They just kept talking. Like?? Sing??? 😂. But no. The host just ended up introducing them and antohter number of bands and just said they’d all sing later.
But her wording kept making the optimist in me think they’d do at least one song then and there for the “OPENING CEREMONIES” with a name like that!!!
Big intro, lots of excitement, then… nothing. No singing. Just awkward chatting.
(Why. Why do this to us!?)
Food Situation: Dull & Expensive
Convention food was expensive and forgettable.
Left the venue to eat elsewhere, no regrets.
Next time, bringing snacks and/or research nearby restaurants.
Live Gaming Competitions
The Super Smash Bros tournament was legit. Per usual, I love these types of live gaming events hahah.
The world’s best Pac-Man character on Super Smash player was even here. I overheard that. Which is fun to think about.
I SAW HIM COMPETE. LOL - yes. Never have I ever? Not me!
Painting Station
We randomly found a painting area, which turned out to be one of the best parts.
We painted figurines (they gave us a mage to paint, lol).
At first they gave us a freaky werwolf but I asked for something more gentle and she gave me a mage!! Cute.
My daughter loved it. We enjoyed painting so carefully - it’s fun to do crafts. Plus so random int he middle of an event. Great idea.
Vendor Booths: Pokémon & Sales, But… Always Sold Out?
The merch booths were solid, but a little limited. A lot of cool stuff, but the problem was:
Popular items sold out super fast.
Some vendors didn’t have much variety.
A lot of Pokémon merch (which is great if you love GameStop and realize that a billion of those cards are going to be graded and resold on their new website thanks to their epic new businessss plannnsss and partnerships and wonderful work!)
Event Review Further Elaboration:
Venue (3/5) -
Room for Improvement: Great but not great for this event. Just too big.
Food (2/5)
Room for Improvement: Boring!! Nothing exciting or competitively priced and hardly even any food on the event grounds too! No local food vendors, etc. Missed opportunity. NOT EVEN TEAAAA!!!
Speaker Content (2/5)
Room for Improvement: Eh. Probably cause I don’t like anime I wasn’t too interested. And cause I had my daughter. But I just found the content really underwhelming. Especially the introductions of everyone. Then they didn’t even have the longest lines for autographs, some of these famous people when you saw them later just spending hours and hours at these tables waiting to give autographs… so it felt like so awkward too.
Networking (4/5)
Room for Improvement: Though I didn’t join in (cause my daughter, etc) there were a billion ways to make friends here. So many games, events, etc. It was well setup for networking, but also easy to be anonymous.
Likeliness to Return (5/5) -
Allow me to Elaborate: yes. I want to go back to Hawaii hahaha. I’ll go to the event again cause it means I get to go to Hawaii.
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
