From Techno Buddhist Memorial Service to Cosplay Human Shogi!　Nico Nico Cho-Kaigi 2019" photo report that enlivened the early part of Golden Week.

Nico Nico Cho-Kaigi 2019, one of the largest cultural festivals originating from the Internet & the largest in Japan, was held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, from April 27 to 28, 2019.

A total of 168,248 people visited this year's Cho-Conference over the two days. The number of online visitors who watched the live broadcast was 6,663,612, both of which exceeded the previous year's figures. In this issue, we will take a look back at the exciting event with photos.

Techno Buddhist Memorial Service

The Techno Buddhist memorial service booth made a striking impact. Behind the monks reading sutras to the rhythm of techno music in the darkness, sutras were projected on the stage along with a colorful image. The stage in the photo was set up by Gyonen Asakura, abbot of Shoenji Temple of the Hongwanji sect of Shinshu Jodo, and the groove of "Namu Amidabutsu" was amazing. A statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva made at the venue in the image of Hatsune Miku was a big hit with the monks who took the stage.

Cho-Shogi

At the Cho-Shogi booth, Tendo City's famous human shogi (Japanese chess) game was played in a special area. The photo shows a game between a team of cosplayers led by Shinya Sato 7-dan and a team of N high school students led by Mitsuru Abe 6-dan. Shinya Sato 7-dan appeared in a "Sakana-kun" cosplay and talked as Sakana-kun during the game. While explaining the ecology of crabs, he said, "Giggle, the crab enclosure has molted into a goose egg enclosure! and other well-crafted stories. At the talk show between 9-dan Mr. Kazumi Kato and 7-dan Mr. Sota Fujii, Mr. Fujii 7-dan was overwhelmed by Mr. Kato's machine gun talk.

Painful Car Heaven

In the "Itasha Tengoku" area, cosplayers of the same characters stood around elaborately designed painted cars and took pictures of them, a scene unique to Nico Nico Superconference.

Super "Avengers: Endgame" booth

At the super "Avengers/Endgame" booth, where the movie is currently showing to great acclaim, the super-assembled photo stage was very popular!　The reproduction of the MARVEL heroes on stage, especially the more austere characters, was amazing. Live painting was also available in the booth.

Thank you, Heisei!　Best regards, 2025!　Nico Nico Kadokawa Book Fair" booth

A giant bookshelf 10 meters high appeared in the KADOKAWA booth!　Displayed on the bookshelf are many of KADOKAWA's books that have actually been published. The Manyoshu, a collection of Japan's oldest anthology of poetry, was reprinted on May 1, 2028, to commemorate the new Japanese era. The Kadokawa Musashino Museum, which will open in 2020, was also promoted in the booth.

Heisei Reiwa booth

Unique to this year's Nico Cho-Cha! What was unique to this year's Nico Cho-cho was the display related to the Heisei and 2019 era. The replicas of the characters used by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Obuchi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Kan when they announced the new year's name attracted a lot of attention.

ISEKAI TAIKEN Booth

At KADOKAWA's ISEKAI TAIKEN booth, there was an event where visitors could receive products for completing quests. The booth featured many well-known works, but it was a rare sight to see them all gathered in one place in a different world.

VTuber Fes Japan 2019

In the area titled "VTuber Fes Japan 2019," a number of VTuber-related exhibitions and events were held, including virtual handshakes and virtual rock-paper-scissors tournaments. One that felt like the future was the VTuber Narijiri AI Project by "NTT Laboratories x Himehina Electronic Molecular Laboratory". When you typed in your favorite characters on the keyboard, Himehina responded with words and movements.

Super food code "Make it together! Super Curry from the Net" (Japanese only)

Using the "From Our Customers Over There" system, which allows people to bring in food from the Internet, viewers put ingredients into a large pot of curry to be simmered at the venue and sold at the venue. At the time of our coverage, we could only detect the presence of potatoes and carrots, but if we were lucky, we might have come across some high-end ingredients such as foie gras and chateaubriand.

That is my brief report on the atmosphere of the event. It was a truly "Nico Nico" two-day event, a crossover of technology, tradition, and a sense of fun.

(Reporting, text, and photos by Kiri Nakazato)