We’re taking you on a trip to Japan without leaving the city! Tokyo X is a jam-packed festival where you can experience the best of Japanese culture. Watch as Derrick and Tessa get a taste of Japanese cuisine and meet some of the incredible cosplayers ahead of this weekend’s festival.
welcome back to Houston life first we visited Italy now we’re taking a trip to Japan at the largest indoor Japanese festival in Houston mark your calendars for this by the way June 15th and 16th whether you’re into J-pop anime or kimono fashion Tokyo X is something for everyone Tokyo X director of Cosplay pichy pie is here with the event details along with cosplayers Cassie Moon and fairy Lefay welcome to all three of you you look fantastic thank you for having us well okay so pachy pie let’s chat about this Festival because you’re an NRG Center been there for a couple years last year 18,000 attended were you surprised that so many people are interested in this we were not expecting 18,000 we were just expecting less than 10,000 but then yes we are surprised as everybody’s so interested with the Japanese culture and it we are very very lucky to have Tokyo here in Houston yeah we are able to celebrate the Japanese culture you don’t have to go to Japan to celebrate it we’re bringing Japan here we can see that in the video here so you have all kinds of expositions you have all kinds of um Brands being represented here take us through some of the things that people can expect for this second year uh besides air condition because it is so big from outdoor to indoor you have to go I can probably jump in if you want that way I can help you out but yeah we have we’re expecting 350 vendors which is insane like if you think about it like you’re going to have fun there’s activities uh Japanese performers voice actors food vendor per performances you’re going to have a huge variety Pachinko um games for kids they going to be a lot of activities that we are implementing this year so you can take the whole family yeah we also have cosplay we have a cosplay contest and we also have a car show it’s a big car show too it’s a jam-packed all weekend yes and let’s chat about the cosplay Community we’re seeing some images on our screen people look like a million bucks I am so impressed uh by the the makeup the hair the Wardrobe Cassie Moon and fairy Lefay what’s it like for you two to dress up and get out into a crowd of 18,000 plus people who share your Same Love for this well it’s pretty incredible because we really love what we do and it’s the kind of thing of when you love something it’s just rewarding to find other people that share that interest with you it takes us hours it takes months depending on the build that you’re actually building some people cosplay is for fun so it’s for everyone to enjoy it if you make your own cosplay if you buy it if you are crafting and learning about the craft everybody is welcome so Co I want to get back to PG pie because why was it so important to bring Japan to Houston I mean we know we’re a culturally diverse City but what what is it what is the feedback been like and why is it so important to you because not everybody can afford traveling going to Japan right so we we plan to bring Japan here and celebrate it’s its Rich culture you know it’s not just you know anime it’s not just the cars it’s also the food that we’re bringing oh my God yes so we have authentic Japanese food in the convention and also we have performers as well we have voice actors from anime culture they’re coming all here performers as well I checked out the website earlier today and the lineup of voice actors both from here in America and also from Japan it is mindblowing it’s such a great roster Cassie Moon you mentioned some of the vendors who will be on the floor hundreds of them what types of vendors are we talking about we’re expecting art vendors artists uh face painter I do face paint at my booth uh there’s uh sellers for what was it like uh action figures merchandise shirts a lot of stuff these so this wait this is you doing makeup on yourself yeah yes exactly so I offer makeup when I’m at the con so that way if you have a cosplay you’re missing something to finish the look I’m there to help you out to transform yourself to the 100% so yeah so you’ll you’ll fit right in if you just get with uh yeah a Cassie Moon and fairy Lefay fairy Lefay tell me about your outfit like how long does this take to get dressed and like it takes motivation just to do hair and makeup like where does that come from um so it takes a lot of time to be you always learning something um so today took me about 2 hours to get but this this is this outfit feels like a trap some are easier than others some become a puzzle and that’s one of my favorites that’s Ari from League of Legends that is me as um the ghost bride so Emily so everything depends on what we doing but today this was a little bit less than Emily Emily takes 4 hours with all the body pain and everything it’s it’s insane I am blown away you’re like your own canvas like you’re an you guys are all artists and you’re using yourselves as canvases and becoming these characters it is super super cool pachy pie you must be so proud oh yes cosplay is an art and it’s for everybody it’s it’s an expression of your art it’s an expression and trying to be embody the character that you love well I love Y characters totally here’s the info on your screen the Tokyo X Japanese festival happening Saturday and Sunday at NRG Center general admission is 45 bucks on Saturday Sunday it’s 40 bucks or you can go for that VIP pass which includes skip the line privileges to pickup badge and your priority access to purchase autographs so uh yeah mark your calendars and ladies thank you so much really I am so blown away the very least call them on Instagram because you are works of art you works of art thank you so much brighten up our studio in like the best way so awesome see you guys there yeah we’ll stop by should be in Cosplay oh my gosh a lot of work we’ll do our best okay we always do our best okay coming up the fun doesn’t stop let’s find out what’s on the menu at Tokyo x with Thomas goo founder of t cafe yeah founder of T go Cafe he’s going to show us these impressive noodle stretching skills y’all yeah this is trending on TiK ToK by the way so he’s going to show us how it’s done when Houston life returns don’t go [Music] away welcome back to Houston life okay so before the break we chatted with some awesome cosplayers peachy pie Cassie Moon and fairy Lefay about the entertaining lineup you’ll find this weekend at the Tokyo X Festival I am so blown away still that was incredible and now we are in the kitchen to taste some of the festival’s menu joining us now with his flavorful noodle dish is the founder of teu Cafe chef Thomas goo welcome to Houston life it’s great to meet you you have such an interesting story you went to UT Austin you lived in Japan for a few years teaching English and how did you end up starting this business I mean so basically I’ve been cooking since I was in college you know as a way of course to avoid having to eat cafeteria food every day save some money right and you C for your roommates is that true yes like that was kind of like the whole taste testing thing that’s kind of what got me to start this whole business thing because one of those roommates was the one during one of my birthdays was like hey you need to let other people try this you know like other people should know about this stop gatekeeping your skill share you do yes and we we love that you’re sharing it with us but this whole like stretchy noodle thing I mean this was just something you saw online one day walk us through that Journey yeah cuz I’m really into like artistic stuff so when I saw this like instantly I was obsessed and when I get obsessed with something I’m like now I’m going to nerd out about it and learn everything there is about it so well and what is interesting to me is that Tokyo X didn’t it start as a culinary event essentially created to invite chefs to share their version of Japanese street food so what kind of inspiration did your time in Japan play or or still today does it play in your culinary event definitely cuz while I was in Japan I got to experiment with so many different ingredients and see just the culture of how everyone was so into and taking pride in what they do it didn’t matter if you’re working at McDonald’s or a high scale restaurant everyone takes a lot of pride in what they’re presenting and the street food there is legendary Right you just walk down the streets in Japan and there are markets everywhere yes okay okay so I see some stuff in front of us and I’m going to try not to get intimidated but what do you stu yeah explain what’s in front of us I love you are a true Chef you like just hear navigating everything so take us through what this is and what we’re going to be doing with this product today so this right here is just dough and this is what we’re going to use to make noodles so it doesn’t look like noodles right now but basically the idea is they’re fresh to order you know when you when someone orders it we pull it out and there it is and it’s the thing that is really good is that when it’s fresh like this it’ll cook in less than like 40 seconds it’s hot wow interesting okay you ready okay so again you you saw a video online and you became obsessed with it and now you have mastered the art of these stretch yeah you know more or less Master you can always learn a little bit but yes well test is very good in a lot of things still good like I’m really good be careful put us to work okay so let me show you real quick just what one looks like okay and you can kind of like try to get some so basically take this off the desk okay okay and then you’re going to grab it at the ends like this can we go for it yeah go ahead okay D you are going to need some space okay oh okay I like my space I’m going to start you you show you show all right so you don’t want the one of the key things to have gentle hands be pretty soft with it you don’t want to be you know just ripping it apart pull it out as long as you can feel like it goes and you’re kind of shaking it there really good if pull yeah you’re that’s really good okay once you feel like once you feel like you can’t go any further that’s when you have to start the the slapping process so angry is oh I’ll be good at this Derek’s really good over here actually D that looks really good actually thank you wow Derek show me what can I say so go further and I am showing you just look well I’m busy once you’re once you feel like you can’t go further with that what I like to do is put it down hold it down with one hand okay and then you can use the other hand to elongate even more both of you guys are doing great actually wow you’re so nice T no that’s really good okay okay so then is better than dck you think no that I’ll leave that guys up to you hi javana all right so go ahead and put it down on the table both both you guys look pretty good right there and then from one uhoh didn’t see that it’s okay from one end now we’re going to run it through our hands just to even it out a little bit even it out a little make it a little bit thinner okay we got only about a minute left dude so fight to the Finish here all right then last step go from the middle okay put your fingers in the middle right here and just break open a little and Pull Apart oh wow okay wait you guys are amazing what is this we’re doing it good did it that’s perfect actually this is so oh was I not supposed to rip it apart I mean it doesn’t matter it’s it’s okay everyone makes mistakes mine’s the longest okay well snake okay all right I feel really good this really good so now we will just put this in the pot put it in the pot go ahead and toss it in okay 4 seconds later we’re going to be ready for this look at that gorgeous and what’s in the noodle dough very quickly so it’s literally just flour you can use all purpose flour water and salt nothing special do this make this for Brandon he’ll love it make it for me I’m going to need a lesson in the noodle making okay those should be almost done right yeah they’ll be pretty close and then and then what are you going to add on top of it so we’re going to use this San style mala sauce so it’s a little bit you know numbing a little bit spicy o so definitely there’s going to be a little bit b a kick to this right and then we’re going to top it with marinated bean sprouts right here this is for all our vegans out there because we do this vegan traditional version thank you like our guy right here okay perfect and then we also have a meat version but obviously not for you but then we’re going to top it with green onions perfect okay we’re going to take a quick commercial break before we see the finished product in the meantime we do want to remind you Tokyo X is happening this weekend June 15th and 16th okay Thomas go you’re awesome we’re gonna uh put the entertainment food lineup all of that at Houston life.tv and you just look for the scene on Houston life SE quick commercial break and uh after the break
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Yayyy! See you all there!!