Cosplayers Flock to Central Japan

The ninth World Cosplay Summit was held from August 5 to 8, 2011, with the host city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture welcoming the winning cosplayers from preliminary events held around the world. The Summit features a parade, photo session, and other events, as well as a major cosplay competition that crowns the world champion. Representatives from 17 countries participated in the competition this year, making this global contest the biggest thus far.

The centerpiece of the four-day event is the Ōsu Cosplay Parade. The representatives from each country, as well as ordinary participants, dress up in their favorite costumes and make their way through the Ōsu shopping district of Nagoya, starting from the Ōsu Kannon temple. The crowd of people strutting their stuff, wearing colorful costumes and wigs, is a surreal spectacle against the backdrop of the temple grounds and the everyday shopping district.

Aichi Prefectural Governor Ōmura Hideaki

Onlookers are packed in tight along the parade route, taking photos and yelling out to the cosplayers. Even an elderly shop owner in the area was excited by the event, saying: “At first I felt only surprise, but now this is something I look forward to every year.” Because the event has done so much to revitalize the local area, Aichi Prefectural Governor Ōmura Hideaki was on hand at the opening ceremony to lend his support, dressed up as the character Desler from the anime Space Battleship Yamato.

How do cosplayers in Japan view their foreign counterparts who dress up and act like characters from Japanese video games or anime? An 18-year-old cosplayer and part-time worker named Mochiko, who was dressed up as a character from the manga Sket Dance, tipped her hat to the cosplayers outside Japan: “I’m happy that people overseas are into Japanese culture. But since the characters from Japanese anime and manga tend to be close to a Western look, if these foreigners really went all out they would be hard to beat. And some wouldn’t even need a wig to get the hair color right. I think the cosplayers overseas are really stylish. Adorable.” She added: “I’m also impressed by how much energy they put into cosplay. Here in Japan we’ve got some specialty cosplay stores, but over there they have to make everything themselves.” In these ways, the overseas cosplayers can be a great source of inspiration.