Superhero Ultraman thwarted by JR Meguro Station staff
Superhero Ultraman was spotted around JR Meguro Station in Tokyo last week and again on Tuesday. Awed eyewitnesses spoke in hushed tones as Ultraman, or a fan dressed as him, entered the station and then turned around and left after station staff asked him to ...
Hyogo craftsman's replica weapons tap cosplayer boom
A craftsman's plastic processing business in western Japan has finally begun to take off as the exquisite toy weapons he produces become popular with the legion of costume-wearing manga fans known as "cosplayers." Takumi Orii, an enthusiast of the "Gundam" animation series about giant robots, ...
Stumped for a costume idea this year? This selection of outfits from pre-Halloween parades on Sunday, curated from social media and Japan Times's staff, might give you a few ideas for the big event this weekend.
Join the zombie horde for Halloween this year
Last Halloween I showed up at a nightclub in Shibuya wearing a pair of fangs and a sexy dress and expected to get the costume discount. The doorman laughed in my face. The Japanese don't mess around when it comes to costumes. Last year, the ...
Anime oasis of the Midwest flourishes
The 18th annual Anime Central (ACen), North America’s third largest anime convention, is underway this weekend in Rosemont, near Chicago. Last year's event drew a record 29,000 unique attendees, tallying 81,000 in total over its three full days. Organizers expect to breach those figures ...
'License to Play' compiles research on all things ludic in Japanese culture
The stereotype of a stressed-out salaryman, vacantly sipping on his post-overtime can of beer, does little to confirm that Japanese society is deeply clued into notions of fun and play. License to Play: The Ludic in Japanese Culture, by Michal ...
AnimeJapan 2015 sees the big picture
For most in Japan, April marks the start of the new working year. But for the anime and manga industries, it all begins in March. Last weekend, the second annual AnimeJapan trade fair overtook Tokyo Big Sight, with more than 120,000 total attendees (a spike ...
On Feb. 22, thousands of marathon runners traversed 42 km of Tokyo, and a large number of them went the extra mile in the wardrobe department.
Giant Osaka park catching on as hangout for 'cosplayers'
Tsurumiryokuchi Expo '90 Commemorative Park in Osaka is catching on as a weekend hangout for "cosplay" (costume play) fans who like to dress as characters from anime, manga and video games. In early November, about 60 cosplay fans gathered to take photos in the 120-hectare ...
What's beneath all that latex, fabric and plastic?
In 1910, a man named Otto James was arrested for parading down a busy street in Tacoma, Washington, wearing fancy dress. The charge of "public masquerading" — so quaint to modern ears — was itself nothing new, but the choice of costume was notable: ...
Cool Japan sets its sights on Southeast Asia
A full year and a half has passed since the Japanese government gave its final approval for the Cool Japan Fund — a 20-year, public-private entity aimed at spreading Japan's cultural appeal overseas — the official soft-power push that some bureaucrats and academics had ...
Halloween in Japan is a relatively new holiday, especially when it comes to adults. Real trick or treating for kids will probably never catch on, but the act of dressing up — be it cute or creepy — has caught on in a big ...
