NAGOYA (Kyodo) A Japanese pair were named the world's top costume role players Sunday, the first time the crown has been won by the country where "cosplay" originated.
The colorfully dressed partners defeated contenders from 14 other countries in the World Cosplay Championship, a featured part of the three-day World Cosplay Summit that began Saturday.
The two winning females were dressed as renowned samurai warriors, the main characters in a Sony PlayStation game titled "Sengoku Basara" ("Devil Kings").
A pair from Spain won second prize. The contenders were among some 500 cosplayers attending the summit dressed as key characters of Japanese "anime," games and "manga."
The cosplay summit, first held in 2003, is now organized mainly by the Foreign Ministry and tourism-related organizations based in Nagoya to boost cultural exchanges with other countries through the cosplay subculture.
The 15 countries with contenders this year were Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand and the United States.
The event was to wind up Monday with a symposium on cosplay culture.