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Japan Habba 2025 Hosts Mascots Hello Kitty, Chiitan; Musical Acts Nanometer, Ryoma Quartet

The staff of the Japan Habba Cultural Festival announced on Friday that it will have a Hello Kitty mascot at its 2025 event. They announced on Tuesday that the event will also host controversial mascot character Chiitan, idol group Nanometer, musical ensemble Ryoma Quartet, and musician Kanapon.

Anime Times, Amazon Prime Video's dedicated add-on channel for anime, will give away Naruto freebies to new subscribers at the event.

The event will also include anime screenings, a manga workshop, "Light Novel Title Mad Libs," a karaoke competition, yukata wearing activity, a Japanese cinema seminar, as well as several Japanese food stalls. The cosplay events will include a cosplay showcase, a "cosplay chess" event, and a dedicated gaming tournament for cosplayers.

The event will take place on January 12 from from 10:00 a.m. IST to 8:00 p.m. IST at Chamara Vajra, Palace Grounds, Bengaluru.

It previously announced that it will again host Animathon, "India's biggest and oldest anime quiz."

The event will host Fighting Game Community (FGC) tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Street Fighter 6, and Under Night In-Birth II Sys as well as for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet VGC under Regulation G. FGC is hosting the tournaments in partnership with The Versus Festival and Pokémon GO Bengaluru.

The staff describes the event:

Since its inception in 2005, Japan Habba has been at the forefront of promoting Indo-Japanese cultural exchange. The event serves as a platform for enthusiasts to experience the essence of Japan and connect with like-minded individuals.

The 2023 event hosted a Tech & Jobs Fair on May 13 and a Cultural Festival on May 14 at the National Science Seminar Complex and Satish Dhawan Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. It hosted a seminar titled "The Greatest Artistic Movement in Anime," which spoke of the moe movement and drew on the works of Patrick Galbraith and Eiji Ootsuka. The Animathon quiz had over 200 participants and team "Cardcaptor Sakuga" won the grand prize. Finalists in the quiz won Bocchi the Rock! keychains.

The Cultural Festival also had a cosplay showcase, Pokémon Go event, and Smash Bros Ultimate tournament. Tomokuni Terukina, "a sanshin master of the Afuso-ryu school," performed on stage on May 14. The event featured stalls selling anime and manga merchandise as well as activities involving tea ceremony, calligraphy, ikebana, and origami, and traditional Japanese food.

Sources: Japan Habba's Facebook page, Online correspondence