How to send a flowerstand to a Japanese event
Hello all, fc here. I occasionally get questions about how to send flowerstands to {insert favorite otaku franchise's event in Japan here}, so I thought I’d write something to go through the general flow.
here's the foreign shihainin flowerstand! thanks to everybody who donated!
— うさ式 (@usashiki7) October 20, 2018
海外支配人フラスタです！
flower: @hananoki_flower
art: @evilseaturtle
panel design: @shi_nora #ナナシス #t7s pic.twitter.com/5km0O8TtXl
Before I start, the normal disclaimer: This is based only on my own personal experience sending four flowerstands over the past few years with the help of two flower shops; your experience may vary greatly.
1. Find and contact a flower shop
The first step is, obviously, to find a flower shop. See what shops other people have used, or just google around. Once you’ve found one you think will work, place your order request. They should have some sort of order instructions on their site, whether it be an order form, email, or phone call. Your order request should contain at least the bare minimum amount of information needed to accept your request: name, date, location, and website of the event, who you’re sending the flowerstand to, and your approximate budget. (Of course, depending on your flower shop, they may ask for more.)
You’ll notice in that list above I didn’t include the actual design of the stand. That’s because it typically isn’t actually necessary to get your name down on the flower shop’s schedule. Each flower shop can only handle a certain number of orders at any one time, so if there’s a big event coming up, it’s possible that flower shops will start filling up well before the event. That’s why I suggest that once you know that you want to send a flowerstand, you should go ahead and reach out to a flower shop and get your name down.
2. Figure out your design
Assuming you’ve been to a decently large event, you’ll know that flowerstands can really run the gamut in terms of designs, to the point that it isn’t really clear whether or not they should be called flowerstands. That being said, you don’t need to come up with anything fancy if you don’t want to — there’s always the standard design. If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look at flowerstands from past events on Twitter, Twipla, etc.
Once you’ve come up with something, you’ll want to run it by the flower shop to make sure they’re willing to do it. Be sure to keep them in the loop and talk with them to come up with something together. As professionals, they can give you advice on what is and isn’t possible, what will or won’t look good, etc.
Obviously, the earlier you figure out your design the better, but I would say it would be best to figure this out by the latest a month before the event itself, due to the fact that you may have to prepare more than just the design.
2.5. Prepare any required panels, etc
Chances are your flowerstand design will have one or more panels attached to it, whether it be a donor list, character art, or something else. Depending on your flower shop, they might be able to print stuff for you, but of course that’ll probably cost more than printing it yourself. Be sure to leave enough lead time in your schedule for preparation, printing, and delivery, plus any unexpected delays that may come up.
Personally, I have used print shop Accea (site) in the past without any problems. They have many (some 24 hour) locations around Tokyo, an online order site, and they accept payment on pickup in case your credit card doesn’t work on their site.
3. Pay the flower shop
This is pretty self-explanatory — you need to pay the flower shop for their work. It is likely this will take one of two forms: bank transfer (from a Japanese bank account) or in person (though again, it depends on the flower shop). If you personally can’t do either of these, you’ll need to find somebody who can.
This will probably take place around one or two weeks before the event. That’s because flower shops typically don’t start working on the flowerstand until one week or less before the event, because flowers wilt over time. If you prepared any panels yourself, you’ll want to get those to the flower shop around this time as well.
4. That’s it!
No, really. Obviously the flower shop will handle construction of the flowerstand, but they should also handle delivery before the event, and pick-up and disposal after the event. Be sure to take a picture and send it to the flower shop once you see the flowerstand in person along with your thanks.
[optional] 5. Retrieve panels
Because the flower shop handles pick-up of the flowerstand after the event, if you want you can typically ask the flower shop to not dispose of the panels with the rest of the stand so you can pick them up at a later time. If you want to do this, you should arrange with the flower shop beforehand. (Note some performers have been known to take home panels from flowerstands addressed to them!)
FAQ
What if I don’t know Japanese?
I’ve only ever dealt with flower shops in Japanese, so I honestly don’t have a good answer for this. Some flower shops can probably take orders in English. Maybe.
How much do these flowerstands cost?
Depending on the flower shop and complexity of the design, it can cost anywhere from ¥20,000 to over ¥100,000. Personally, the stands I’ve made have cost either ¥60,000 or ¥80,000.
Help! I can’t get in contact with my flower shop!
Depending on your flower shop, it may be hard to get in contact with them. I would personally suggest finding the contact method that has the highest chance of you receiving a response when you need it. From my experience, this is most likely going to be their phone number.
What if my event isn’t in Tokyo?
I’ve personally never organized a flowerstand for an event outside of Tokyo, but if you want to do so you’ll have to find a shop that delivers to wherever your venue is. On the plus side, flowerstands, like most everything else, are much cheaper outside of Tokyo.
How do I know whether or not my event accepts flowerstands?
From my experience, almost all Japanese events accept flowerstands. On the live website there should be a section about flowerstands, including when flower shops are allowed to deliver and pick up flowerstands. However, this section might not appear until a month or less before the event, so if you aren’t sure it might be good to look around Twitter or Twipla and see if there are Japanese fans organizing flowerstands as well.
That’s about it! There’s some things I didn’t go into, for example if you’re organizing on behalf of a community, obviously you’ll need to handle collecting money, etc, but that’s the general gist. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to DM me on Twitter (@usashiki7), or LINE etc.