It’s that time of year again! It’s time for Naka-kon 2016!! Get out your costumes to celebrate this Friday through Sunday at the Convention Center in Overland Park, Kansas City! Don’t forget to buy your passes early, otherwise passes will be $35 at the door for Saturday only. Friday badges cost $30, and Sunday badges cost $25. Just in case, badges can cost $55 at the door, for preregistration and at the door on Thursday, march 10th. Weekend passes also cost $55. All passes are bought based on availability. The badge cap is set at 9,500, so get your badge before all the badges are gone! Online preregistration of badges is now closed, so you will need to bring the money at the door. When you get to the convention center, you will need to fill in a registration form to get your badge. Some form of identification will also be required. Some things you can bring are:

• Id
• Driver’s license
• Student Id
• Library card
• Birth certificate
• Or anything else that proves your identity

Debit/credit cards are available to purchase a badge. Most shops in the convention center should accept cards for purchases, but some require cash, so either bring some or use one of the ATMs in the convention center. Also, there are no refunds! Badges, once they are bought cannot be refunded! It is recommended to buy your badge at the door to avoid any schedule issues. Lost badges will need to be repurchased to reenter the convention. So don’t lose it!

Remember you are not required to dress up in a costume, but it’s always more fun to dress up! For newcomers to Naka-kon, be expected to get your picture taken often and remember to always have your badge on you! Almost everything in the convention center is required to show your badge first to enter. Also, there are age restrictions for certain areas. These areas require you to be 18 or older and show identification to prove it.

There are dress codes as well, so don’t wear anything inappropriate. Dress codes are pretty lenient because of everyone cosplaying, and it’s understandable if certain people wear their favorite characters from anime, who may or may not be wearing much clothing, but just remember that there are dress codes, even if they are mostly against wearing too revealing clothes.

Some activity costs are not included in the price of badges! These include:

• Maid café
• Charity ball
• Lolita tea party
• Sake’ tasting panels (18 and older)
• Japanese cuisine panels

Activities like these need to be payed separately at entry to them, not at the door of the convention.
Naka-kon hosts an array of activities you can do! Some things you can do are:

• Contests (time to show off you talents or costume!)
• Game room (games are in both English and Japanese, and are not restricted to only video games)
• Anime showing rooms
• Loads of shopping (and mostly all in one room!)
• Karaoke
• Motion comics
• Art gallery
• Dance party
• Many different activities are planned throughout the day so don’t miss them!

Actors and artists from your favorite anime’s will be there! There is even a food court in the shopping area that hosts a large array of food. They have American food if you are not up for Japanese cuisine, and all food is made fresh and hot! But be warned! Most of the foods are expensive, so it is recommended to bring your own or bring enough money.

All in all, nakakon is really fun! Even if you are a newcomer to anime and Japanese culture, nakakon definitely will teach you something new! So make sure to get yourself a costume and make your way over there this Friday through Sunday! Each day is something new, so don’t just come one day only!