On the second weekend of December, j-fashion fans descended on the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco’s Japantown for the third annual Ursa Major convention, hosted by Bay Area Kei and the Black Ribbon. This was the third time this convention has been held, and it was the biggest event yet!
Day Zero
Because I volunteer with this convention, my weekend actually starts on Thursday. The BAK crew has to retrieve items from storage and begin setting up the event space and staff has last minute meetings to talk about the weekend. Mostly though, this is a day to catch up with friends who I haven’t seen in months!
Day One
While Friday isn’t a full day of the convention, there are still plenty of things to do. This year, Friday events included a ribbon station, where attendees can make and trade badge ribbons, a social mixer, para-para dancing, karaoke, panels, and this year, a burlesque show!
My work on Friday consisted of manning the ribbon station, which gave me a sneak peak into what ribbons other attendees brought and made. This year was fun because many attendees knew what to expect. I traded many people for ribbon’s they’d brought from home, and also helped people advertise their ribbons on our ribbon board, which was posted just beside the info desk all weekend. By the end of the weekend, I was also ecstatic that I had a ribbon chain made entirely of ribbons that I’d received from other years (the first year, I made more than 300 ribbons myself to make sure that the convention felt like it was full of ribbons to earn).
I also really enjoyed the burlesque show. We envisioned the show as a good fit for the circus theme, but the event was so popular (and staff had such a good time) that we’re brainstorming ways to have similar content for other themes.
Day Two
Saturday is usually the busiest day of the convention and this year was no exception. Shopping begins at 11:00 AM for VIPs so the BAK crew has to make sure that everything is up and running before then. While Gothic and Lolita Market did not join UM this year, we had more vendors than ever before and had a huge variety of j-fashion styles represented, including lolita fashion, ouji, mori kei, decora fashion, himekaji, fairy kei, and more.
I personally made a beeline for Hello Mari, who had limited edition Ursa Major pins in the shape of admissions tickets! They sold out by the end of the weekend, so I was glad that I snagged one early in the day.
Of course, that was not the only thing happening on Saturday! We also had panels, workshops, and most importantly, the game lounge! I spent the whole time in the game lounge, helping people make friends and find new games to try! This year, we hosted the game lounge in the Koho Creative Space in the adjacent Japantown Mall. I am so grateful to everyone who trekked over to the new space. Even though it was a long walk, I think it was totally worth it. The new space had couches, comfy chairs, lots of tables and chairs for games, plus a TV to project Gii’s video game The Sugarplum Cafe and a speaker so we had music the whole time. It was definitely an upgrade for this event.
Day Three
On Sunday, the main event is the swap meet. Sellers can begin setting up at 10 AM, so the BAK team is up bright and early to ensure that everything runs smoothly. We had an enormous turn out for the swap meet, and based on feedback from previous years, we limited the number of people inside the swap meet room at one time. This meant that there was a significant line for the beginning of the swap meet that died down as the afternoon went on. While I didn’t end up going home with anything from the swap meet, the sheer amount of clothes available was bigger than ever!
The third day is usually the most relaxed day, but this year we decided to mix it up with a new event: the Cosmic Carnival. This interactive event had booths that attendees could visit that including face painting, carnival games, balloon tying, and chibi drawing. We always try to offer new things at our convention, and this event seemed like it perfectly fit the theme.
Finally, the day wound down with closing Bearamonies, where we thanked everyone who made the weekend possible, and announced the theme for 2026, which is Libeary! (We’ll probably come up with a more punny title later).
I am always blown away by how much our community shows up for this event. I get to meet people I’ve only ever seen online, and spend time with some of my favorite people in the world. Planning is already underway for next year, so get ready for Ursa Major 2026!