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Hyper Japan Festival Begins in London Friday

The Hyper Japan festival in London runs from Friday November 23 to Sunday November 25. The timetable is here and advance tickets are here. The festival takes place at Brompton Hall, Earls Court (directions). The opening times are as follows: Friday 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday 9.30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the co-founder and president of the Production I.G studio, will appear on the stage at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Ishikawa, with Takayuki Goto, founded Production I.G in 1987. He will appear in a talk with Ryusuke Hikawa, a critic of Japanese animation. British author Helen McCarthy will be the MC.

There will be several Cosplay events. Hyper Japan is hosting the U.K. rounds of two international cosplay competitions: the World Cosplay Summit and the European Cosplay Gathering. The World Cosplay Summit involves 22 countries. Two competitors from each country will be represented at the final, which is held annually in the Japanese city of Nagoya in Japan, broadcast by TV Aichi. The European Cosplay Gathering involves eleven countries. One group and one individual will be chosen at Hyper Japan and sent to the final at the Japan Expo convention in Paris.

The line up on the cosplay page is as follows:

Saturday 4 p.m. – COSParade 4.30 p.m. – World Cosplay Summit/ European Cosplay Gathering Group Selection

According to the cosplay page, the Cosplay Prize Giving on Saturday will be at 7 p.m. However, according to the main timetable, there will be a "Cosplay Contests Award Ceremony" at 6.20 p.m.

Sunday 2 p.m. – COSParade 2.30 p.m. – European Cosplay Gathering Solo Selection 4 p.m. – Cosplay Prize Giving

The page for the World Cosplay Summit is here and the Euro Cosplay Gathering page is here.

- There will be a screening of animation from the 15 Japanese Media Arts Festival on Friday afternoon, including Koji Yamamura's Muybridge's Strings. A full list of screenings is here (scroll down).

- A Saturday Morning Live event at 10 a.m. on Saturday will include four music acts, including singer Beckii Cruel.

- Toei Animation will be represented at the event. According to the website, there will be "costume character appearances, photo shoots, goodies distribution, drawing lots with prizes to win. Visitors owning a Nintendo 3DS will receive a push announcing that exclusive One Piece content, among other content, will be available on their device at the venue."

- Square Enix will be presenting figurines and other merchandise.