Report from my first overseas event! (Taiwan, 2019)

I went to Taiwan for four days from Friday, December 6th to Monday, December 9th, 2019.

The purpose was to participate in Creema's event in Taipei, and this was Japlish's first time participating in an event overseas.

There were about 150 participating artists, 100 of which were from Japan, and the rest from Taiwan and Hong Kong, so the majority of the artists were Japanese.

On the way there, I flew from Fukuoka to Taipei on Tiger Air, a airline with a character that resembles my beloved cat Jill.

I've been to Taiwan once before, but it was only for one day as a stopover on my way to Hong Kong, so this time I'd like to enjoy sightseeing as well.

As predicted by the weather forecast, it would rain for the first half of the schedule.

We had to change our plans because of the long queue at immigration, but we still had fun eating Xiaolongbao and the night market!!

The main event will be held on Saturday the 7th and the 8th!

(By the way, the event was scheduled to start on Friday the 6th, but the dates didn't work out so I was only able to participate for two days.)

We were quite worried as the loading started at 9:30 and the event started at 11, but we managed to complete the display without any problems!

The loading and unloading skills I learned at JA were also useful overseas (lol).

There was a line before the 11am opening!

After the start, I was busy on both days and didn't have many opportunities to take photos.

The sales floor looks like this!

As for the event, I was honestly worried because we didn't sell anything for about two hours on the first day, but after that, things started to sell little by little.

I was relieved that things started selling well on Sunday morning.

I brought a bag with me, but the accessories were the most popular.
Since admission was paid, many visitors stayed to look around for a long time.

Of course, I was happy that we made sales at this event, but the best memory was having the opportunity to talk to so many Taiwanese people!

I have traveled abroad many times, and most of the people I interact with are people working in restaurants and hotels.

This means there are few opportunities to have what is called normal conversation, but at events, even though we are in the position of artist and audience, we often have normal conversations and it is a lot of fun.

After the event, there were many things to reflect on.

There are countless things to consider, such as shipping, customs duties, product selection, and conversation, but it also made me think, "Next time, I'll do it like this!!"

So, if I have the opportunity, I would definitely like to participate in an overseas event again.

The food in Taiwan is delicious, the people are wonderful, and it's close to Fukuoka, so it's become a wonderful country that feels very close to me.

Thank you very much to everyone who came to the event.