By Edmond Ortiz
While many San Antonians head for a cool body of water or fire up the grill and enjoy football over Labor Day holiday weekend, other locals practically spend the entire time downtown celebrating their love of anime and gaming.
The 17th edition of San Japan is taking place Sept. 4-6. While Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is still the hub of festivities, once again, event attendees can enjoy other activities at the adjacent Grand Hyatt San Antonio Riverwalk and the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk Hotel.
A pop culture celebration that keeps growing
Tagged the biggest anime and gaming convention in South Texas, San Japan has also bounced back to near pre-pandemic levels when it comes to attendance.
After canceling the 2020 San Japan during the height of COVID-19, organizers capped the crowd at 10,000 for the 2021 event, which featured a wealth of social distancing rules, volunteers constantly disinfecting surfaces, and notices encouraging participants and attendees to wear a mask.
The event’s attendance figures have since increased each year, hitting 30,000 in 2024 and 32,000 in 2025. One of the biggest yearly local fan-driven pop culture happenings, San Japan has an economic impact of $20 million, according to Visit San Antonio, the city’s convention and visitors agency.
“Our numbers are looking good. We’re projecting an attendance higher than last year,” Miguel Rodriguez, San Japan chairman, told Focus on San Antonio Aug. 31. “We’ve started to see numbers rise and return to what we saw before COVID.”
Part of what works in San Japan’s favor, Rodriguez said, is the stability of the event. It has become a Labor Day holiday weekend staple for fans and participating vendors alike.
Organizers look forward to having San Japan at the convention center on Labor Day weekends long into the foreseeable future.
And while there has been an increase in the number of pop culture celebrations for fans in and around San Antonio over several years, San Japan’s organizers lean on coexistence instead of worrying about direct competition.
“A lot of fan-run events try to stay out of each other’s dates,” Rodriguez said. “We all live and breathe in the same environment, where we don’t want to step on each other’s toes. We haven’t seen any case where a show could encroach on us.”
For this year’s San Japan, event organizers sought to maximize space inside the convention center.
“This is the most amount of space we’ve used at the convention center,” Rodriguez said of San Japan 17. Attendees this year are seeing expanded artist and dealer halls, and larger gaming areas that include more arcade, tabletop and pinball games.
What else to see and do at San Japan
Other festivities are familiar to San Japan fans, including the Itasha Wonderland anime car show, late night video gaming and electronic music dancing, a formal dance, meet and greets, fandom meetups. cosplay costume, and the maid cafe.
This year’s event also features the San Japan Idol Festival, involving various costumed singers and dancers, and a night market for guests ages 18 and older.
As with previous San Japan events, this year’s festival offers the San Japan Cares program, where volunteers provide assistance to young families, disabled individuals or any other guests who may need specific aid.
Hungry San Japan attendees seeking dining options other than the standard food items available inside the convention center can find unique meals across Market Street at the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk, according to a press release.
The hotel’s in-house restaurants Current & Craft and Cactus Flower will offer a ramen and street food pop-up menu 11 a.m.-midnight Friday, 11 a.m.-midnight Saturday, and 11 a.m. until sold out Sunday. The menu will include curry fries, pork dumplings, mochi sundae, and choices between pork, chicken and vegan ramen.
The hotel’s Café Carino will offer a convenience store pop-up menu 6 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday, and 6 a.m. until sold out Sunday.
This Japanese konbini-inspired grab-and-go pop-up will feature spicy tuna onigiri, a Japanese egg salad sandwich, crispy chicken Katsu sandwich, and Spam Musubi.
In front of the hotel, visitors can find a robatayaki skewers pop-up 5-11 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-11 p.m. Saturday.
This street-side pop-up features Japanese-style, flame-grilled skewers such as chicken thigh, tsukune, pork belly, and shishito peppers.
According to the news release, the pop-up Japanese food options are designed to complement San Japan, and serve as a convenient destination for guests looking to extend their convention experience outside of the convention center.
Attendees also have a chance to give back to the community during the convention. Guests may drop off at least four non-perishable canned goods or boxed meals at the information desk near Hall 4B for a coupon to use on San Japan 17 merchandise during the festival. Donations will help families hit hard by the July floods.
“We’re very excited for our guests. We try to offer a little something for everyone,” Rodriguez said.
