Halloween (A Week Late)

This past week has been the last full week of classes, and as such, I've been very busy writing two papers and preparing a presentation. Now that that's done with, I finally have time to write about my Halloween in Japan!

Halloween in Japan!

Me and a few girls from my floor went to an anime cosplay convention in Ikebukuro, which is near central Tokyo. I was very surprised when we arrived. There was a red carpet laid down and several people in cosplay were posing for pictures. For those who don't know, "cosplay" is like an intense form of costume. It's usually for people who are hardcore fans of a certain genre. There are different types of cosplay, but it's usually based on characters from anime, video games, or comic books. I had never been to an anime cosplay event before, so I wasn't expecting the high level of detail the costumes had.

A couple of Sailor Moon characters.

First of all, there were so many people dressed up. As we walked around the five-block radius the event was in, I saw hundreds of people dressed in cosplay, in all levels of intricacy. Many people went all out with colored wigs and eye contacts to match their character. A lot of costumers also had fake weapon replicas that their characters usually carried.

Naruto characters.

It was so fun to walk around and see all of the different costumes. Everything was so colorful. I asked many people if I could take a photo of them, and they were all happy to pose for me. Halloween in Japan seems like a day that anyone can be a celebrity.

Characters from the video game "Metal Gear."

In the main red carpet area, there was a sort of runway show. People who I guess had signed up beforehand lined up on the red carpet and waited for their turn to stand on a small circular platform to have their photo taken by press photographers. I managed to get a spot a few feet away from them and took lots of photos.

Participants in the runway show wait for their turn on the platform.

Even though I didn't recognize most of the characters (most of them were anime characters), it was still really fun to see everyone's costumes. I had no idea Japan was so into Halloween. It was a really fun way to spend Halloween and to experience a different country's take on the holiday.

I loved these girls' costumes!