HAL-CON 2011

DATES Sat. April 9th - Sun. April 10th, 2011.
PLACE Kawasaki International Center  http://www.kian.or.jp/kic/
G.o.H. Robert J. Sawyer
Naoyuki Katoh


HAL-CON 2010

DATES 10th to 11th April 2010
PLACE Sonic City convention centre, Omiya
    1-7-5 Sakuragi-cho Omiya-ku
    Saitama-shi Saitama-ken
    Japan
    (just North of Tokyo)		 http://www.sonic-city.or.jp/
G.o.H. Charles Stross
Masaru Oishi

Hal-Con 2010 is the first of a planned series of annual conventions, run by former staff and committee of Nippon 2007, the first worldcon in Japan. While Nippon 2007 was generally a success, there were two things which we felt could be improved: bringing new Japanese fans into fandom in Japan; interactions between Japanese and non-Japanese fans. Rather than waiting for another Japanese worldcon, we decided to run an annual bilingual convention with an international Guest and the aim of bringing in new Japanese fans, foreigners living in Japan, and some overseas fans. We decided to run the convention in the Spring to avoid any impact on the Japanese national convention, which typically runs in summer, and also because it is a beautiful time to visit Japan with the cherry trees blossoming and the weather being fine and warm but not hot.

Our goals for the convention are:

  • to spread knowledge of Japanese-language SF in all its forms: written, manga, anime, art, costuming, films, etc.;
  • to spread knowledge of English-language SF in all its forms: written, graphic novels, art, animation, films, etc.;
  • to encourage interaction between Japanese and overseas fans, not only at the convention, but online between conventions and at other conventions in Japan and overseas.

The name, Hal-Con derives from the Japanese word for Spring, usually written in Latin letters as "haru". However, "hal" becomes "haru" when translated into Japanese. Launching the convention in 2010, Hal-Con seemed an auspicious name.