Traveling for Work, Networking & Comic Cons

Good Day J-G members, and thank you for taking the time to read and answer in advance.

Next year 2018 we will be travelling to Japan for work related; last time I was out there it was for research. This time I will be traveling for, I don�ft want to say cold call but networking, and promoting our startup since we are a comic book website. We are looking to arrive in Japan in March and my question is�c

Weather: How is the weather in Japan is during March, is it cold, cool, or warm? We will be spending a lot of time outside walking going to shops and meeting people and we don�ft want to be sweaty while meeting people.

Tourist: What is the tourist activity during March? Is it high or low? We would like to be out there when tourist travel is low.

Hiring an interpreter: We are looking to hire an interpreter/translator to travel with us from time to time, but we are not looking to hire a professional. Is there any site you know we can hire a freelancer? We will be covering their cost of travel and meal.

Comic Cons in Japan: We have searched the web and we don�ft see a lot of comic cons, only the big ones. We are looking to attend medium size or small Comic Cons to better network with people and vendors. Is there any website that list all the comic cons in Japan?

Comic Cons audience: we mainly want to talk to a lot of male and female adults age 24 and over. Do anyone know, is there a lot of teens/young adults or mainly older adults that attend the comic cons.

Hiring Cosplayer: If we are able to get a table, we are looking to hire a cosplayer to just hangout at our table and talk to people (cosplayer will not be promoting). How do we go about finding a cosplayer, or do you know of any website we can place a free local ads.

If things work out well on this travel, we will be returning during the fall and December for Comic Cons we set our eyes on.

Hiring an interpreter: We are looking to hire an interpreter/translator to travel with us from time to time, but we are not looking to hire a professional. Is there any site you know we can hire a freelancer?

I assume you mean "volunteer" interpreter, not freelance. Freelance interpreters are usually professionals.
IMHO, visiting with a volunteer interpreter simply doesn't sound professional if you are here for business, but maybe that's just me.

Weather: use the internet. It depends on location and your personal definition of �gcold�h.

Tourist: around end of March there should be tourists (both local and international) for Hanami. As also Easter is on 1 st of April next year this will increase international tourists a bit more. (In some countries you get 2-3 weeks of school holidays around that date). But overall March isn�ft high season, except Kyoto for Hanami.

I can�ft answer any of your comics related questions.

Enjoy your business trips to Japan!

Now to be a bit more helpful,
Weather: check under Plan a trip - When to go. This very website gives a lot of information, including temperature for each month.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2273.html

Overall, early to mid March is not a high season.

I would suggest back peddling on your plans and research when suitable events are on before picking date to travel to Japan.

You stay there aren't many Comic Con events in Japan. But I'd beg to differ. The amount of Manga/Anime events in Japan are numerous.

http://www.onozomi.com/2015/08/20/10-must-visit-anime-manga-events-in-...

Clearly the biggest will be in Tokyo and Osaka. but there would be many elsewhere is someone into your same field of interest would be willing to help you location them.

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/City-Cost/MvPN9-living_fashion_toyako_...

Another for your research...

Good Day all and thank you for replying.

@ ., I said freelancer because I will be hiring this person for the days work. Maybe I got it wrong, I am use to going to website like PeoplePerHour, Upwork, and Freelancer where where I can hire people for the short term work like design work, research, or whatever work needs to be done. Volunteer is free work which would be good too. With those website the hiring person can hire beginners or experience people which help both the hiring person on cost and the freelancer in getting experience.

@ LikeBike, Thank you for the information, cold like below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We will be doing a lot of walking and staying cool and not being sweaty is very important. Kyoto is on our list, for a few stops, but lucky we wont be doing to much tourist location we are mainly looking for walk into stores talk to the people there and get information on comic book and maybe connect with people starting their own comic books and write about their work. Thank you for the School information, I will look into Japan school holidays. Last time I was out there in December, there was so many students out on class fieldtrips. it may slow us down being out there days when students are not at school and out and about. Tokyo, and Osaka is one of our must hit. we are looking to fly in the week of March 12th and fly out the week of April 2nd.

@., Thank you for the link, it was helpful, the weather looks to be at our favor.

@ hakata14 thank you for the links, I have seen some of the Comic Cons listed, we are looking at attending Anime Japan 2018, we are looking to get a table on the floor. We are looking to travel out there for the other Comic Con in late November into December, but we are going to try to kill two birds with one stone and attend one comic con in China and Korea to during the late fall season returning to Japan. Anime Japan Con is a main stream Comic Con and networkers there will be hard. But we will use websites like Meetup and attend local meets and greets to connect with people who are hosting comic book/manga.

Oh, the way you mentioned "freelancer" sounded like you assumed they were generally not paid.

If you say "freelance" interpreters, yes, that means professionals on individual contract basis (beginner or otherwise), but "expenses paid but no pay" simply did not agree with my understanding of "professional." When you cover (of course) expenses but are not paying for their services, then that is "volunteer workers"; not costly but quality not guaranteed, unless they have been trained and have a special interest in the subject matter. Thus I said it would not be professional of you to hire free-of-charge interpreters :) Just MHO.