Cosplay in Japan is often associated with one of the groups that have formed in relation to its practice. The most common perception of Japanese cosplayers was formed in the Harajuku and Akihabara districts of Tokyo, and indeed, images from this area are driving much of the media that is produced about cosplay in Japan. It is true that Akihabara and (much less in recent years) Harajuku form epicenters of cosplay groups and allow for members of cosplay communities to meet, have fun together, and flourish. However, most cosplayers in Japan are hanging out at cosplay related events rather than just being out and about in public. There are cosplayers in rural parts of Japan as well, but these are not portrayed commonly in popular media. They are often associated with outcasts in their hometowns, and cosplay is only recently recieving a kind of "positive light" in some areas of popular media (usually where profits and anime are concerned, as cosplay can serve to drive up sales and interest in a given series among fans. So we can see, in some instances, that if it helps the industry - the industry will support it.).

     The reason for all the secrecy about one's identity outside of cosplay is the conservative attitude held that generally observes that teenagers and young adults should be studying, working, going to cram school, or pursuing other, "more worthwhile" interests than emulating cartoon and video game characters, and MANY Japanese cosplayers have admitted in interviews that they do not tell many of the people they know that they are cosplayers. They only tell other cosplayers when they are at cosplay events and even then they do not use their real names / identities. When Japanese youth cosplay they commonly do it as their "cosplayer identity" and often have photo cards that resemble business cards with their cosplayer identity name and email on them (often they are quite beautiful and feature a photo of that cosplayer's favorite outfit/past achievement through cosplay). It's not that Japanese people aren't proud of the hard work they're putting into their outfits and designs - it's just that mainstream Japanese society, their parents, and even many of their friends might not embrace their cosplay hobby. This can sometimes, in rare cases, lead to imeji (outcast) status which can lead to bullying and social exile.

     Now, as a contrast, we can say that many Americans are usually fairly proud of their cosplaying hobby. Since being geeky or having geeky hobbies is becoming much more mainstream in United States youth culture, and the culture is also heavily focused on individualism, it is easy to see why teens are proudly displaying their outfits and achievements. It's also easy to see why the masquerade skits and performances are so popular in the US. They are fun, create an outlet for artistic, individual expression, and the chance to show off what they've done. I think that both cosplaying cultures are great in their own ways, and I've definitely enjoyed both Japanese and American conventions for different reasons because you really see the dynamics of Japanese and American culture and subculture reflected in the ways cosplay is practiced in these two countries.

     One must be very polite and ensure not to ask too many personal questions of a Japanese cosplayer (in Japanese culture, it's not polite to ask personal questions of someone you aren't close friends with) to get even the slightest glimpse into their life during their work or school week, to go behind the bright makeup and hand-crafted clothing they wear, and the identity they take on as their own each weekend. One thing that was very important for me was to ensure that cosplayers weren't nervous that I was just some "American looking for photos." It is common that cosplayers here in Japan will avoid foreigners just because they will often take pictures or video without permission. This is VERY socially unacceptable in Japan. Taking a photo of a cosplayer is a big no-no and will upset many cosplayers, even if they don't confront you directly about it. I have always been very careful to tread lightly and only ask for photos of cosplayers if they seem as though they would like to provide them for my research. Even then, I completely respect their right to keep their pictures off the internet if they so desire. I'm in Japan to interview cosplayers anonymously so that they can express their true feelings and not feel alienated by my presence or questions. This is why many of the interviews I have taken have a completely fake name and no photo attached to them.

     Most cosplayers who are considered "True Cosplayers" have several outfits that they have spent tedious hours carefully crafting to perfection, and have only bought an accent item when absolutely necessary. Some cosplayers will admit they have spent up to 100,000 JPY on an outfit (roughly $1,000 USD). The looks they create are a direct representation of the character they wish to express. It is a visual art form that manifests itself through the idea of becoming another person through an outfit, makeup, and attitude/persona. It is important to note, however, that costumes can also be purchased in Japan quite easily, and models are sometimes paid by the industry to "cosplay" for advertising. There is a lot of debate overseas as to whether or not this should be considered "real cosplay" but since it originates in Japan it is tough to argue with the country of origin on its subcultural context. Furthermore, some cosplayers who started out as fans became professional cosplayers, which in many ways is fulfilling one of their dreams!

      In fact, I think that unique cosplay subcultures around the world are fascinating and would love to publish works that discuss all of the places cosplay happens and the people who practice it. Many would argue that simply by working to effectively emulate a character (one step beyond simple costuming) one is cosplaying, and therefore applying theory and defining a subcultural expression like cosplay is quite difficult. Of course, commodification of any subcultural movement through paid advertising, models dressing up as characters for profit, or profits made by selling cosplay costumes will naturally occur as companies attempt to capitalize on trends, and this is where some cosplayers draw the line between what is perceived as "real" or "fake" cosplay.

      In Victoria Chambers’ book, “Kickboxing Geishas: How Modern Japanese Women are Changing their Nation,” she describes to us that fashion takes a very important stance in expressing oneself in Japanese culture. The old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” seems to take no place in Japan. To go further on this idea, Chambers’ quotes Donald Richie, famous filmmaker and writer of Japanese culture for western audiences, as having said that “the surface truth is always the real truth. This is something that all Japanese people believe. You proclaim it, you put it on your name card and that’s who you are” (Chambers 31). This explains, Chambers says, why “there’s no such thing as casual Fridays at Japanese companies and why, if you are hiking in the countryside, you will see whole Japanese families dressed up like the Swiss Family Robinson. It’s not just a costume; those are their “hiking clothes” (Chambers 31-32).

      So where does this idea of surface truth apply to cosplay? Since cosplayers are trying to stand out among a sea of those “dressing for their environment,” as Chambers put it, (meaning, in this case, salarymen, school uniformed teens, and others conforming to the masses) cosplay can be seen, in a way, as youth members creating a new environment, and then dressing to fill it appropriately. What is most interesting is that this environment takes no definite shape or style, and therefore possibilities of inhabiting it are seemingly limitless. There are a few social codes that go along with being a cosplayer, but really it’s all about the individual. Initially, cosplayers did not have to work very hard to find a place to house their environment. Harajuku has been the place for fashion experimentation since the mid 1950’s. It was only natural that there would be room for cosplayers among the Rockabilies, the Goths, and the other fashion trending teens. When cosplayers moved in, there was a natural space made for them on Harajuku Bridge for them to make a statement. What is special about cosplay communities is that they don't fit any one category or definition socially. Each community is different and unique in its own right, with very few constants from group to group. Anthropologists tend to focus on uniting factors that can define social phenomenon, but this is very difficult to pinpoint with cosplay and especially since it has become an international phenomenon riding on waves of social media and online networking. Again, cosplayers more often flock to Akihabara and other centers outside of Harajuku in recent years, so I will discuss this in the Akihabara section.

      Chambers goes on to point out that for some women, cosplay and other fashion expressions in Harajuku and the like can be a very important social statement in a country where a movement similar to the American social upheaval of the 1960’s has not yet really taken place. Women’s rights are just now being expanded and pushed past their social boundaries in Japan. Rather than a glass ceiling, Japanese women call their boundary a rice-paper ceiling, and in many ways that ceiling is tougher to break through than any other modernized country in the world. So here, in Harajuku, we find a lot of young women who are growing up and at the same time telling society in their own way that they don’t just want to fall into place when their rights are limited, and furthermore, they will refuse to do so. The following quote from Chamber's book about modern women in Japan is especially poignant.

      “Gwen Stefani sings about the Harajuku girls and their “wicked style.” But Harajuku is also an anthropological petri dish of young women and how they are choosing to react to all the changes in their lives. From the thirty-plus-year distance of our own American women’s movement, it’s difficult to remember how many women were terrified of equal rights. In Japan you can see that same kind of “fear of flying” at work, in strangely theatrical, uniquely Japanese ways” (Chambers 32).

 





     TCVB said this of the famed Harajuku District in Tokyo, Japan, “Fashionable Harajuku is the perfect soft-landing in Tokyo with its cosmopolitan air and some of the best of traditional and modern Japan. Most people associate the name Harajuku with the Champs Elysees-like zelkova-lined avenue called Omotesando and a couple of nearby back streets, notably Takeshita-Dori, a cut-price fashion avenue teeming with teenagers.” (Lonely Planet Japan)











      Harajuku started out as a main contact point between Western and Eastern culture during occupation-period Japan until the 1950’s. Western clothing was suddenly available to the Japanese in bulk, and it would soon affect styles and fashions being worn by the residents of that area.  Although Western clothing was commonplace by the 1920’s, “Japan’s attitude to western clothes has been unfettered by the accompanying rules of class and status that clothes in Europe have been soaking in for hundreds of years (as indeed has Japan’s own system of indigenous dress). This, coupled with the country’s rapid postwar modernization into a hyper consumerist society, has led to an evolution of yofuku that sometimes looks nothing less than spectacular to the eyes of the westerner” (Philanoma Keet 8).

      Harajuku has been the name of the area around the Harajuku Station on the JR line within the Shibuya ward of Tokyo for many years, but did not achieve its current icon status until around the mid-1980’s. At the time Omotesando had been closed to traffic on Sundays (a “pedestrian paradise” known as Hoko-Ten in Japanese), and so the area in and around Harajuku seemed the perfect place for teens to go hang out, watch performances by young musicians and dancers trying to get their start, and where teens would exchange new ideas and concepts that would develop a myriad of youth subcultures unique, for many years, to that district alone (Aoki 1).

      It became, by way of exchange and interaction of Tokyo’s young adults and teenagers, the spot for cutting-edge fashion in the nineties when teens initiated for the first time in shaping fashion the way they wanted it to look and feel rather than following designated trends that are so pushed in a capitalist society (Aoki 1). This fashion movement and the cosplay subculture have made Harajuku a special community for the many teens that travel there on weekends or afternoons once they are done with school or work. It is important to note that this community primarily gathers on weekends, particularly Sundays, and this is reflected in the entire community with businesses in the area closing by 9 P.M. on weekdays and staying open sometimes until the early hours of the morning on weekends. (See Image for what Harajuku Bridge looks like during weekday work hours.)

      The youth of all social circles come up and spill out from Takeshite Dori (pronounced TA-KEH-SHTA-DO-REE), the street commonly known for its designer shops and fashions found no where else in the world. Takeshite Dori forms the edge of the Harajuku community and is also where businesses attempt to market to the local cosplay groups who hang out up the street. There are boutiques that specialize in socks, t-shirts, cosplay accessories such as wigs, mismatched outfits for the fashion movement, American vintage clothing from the 1970’s, and even stores that sell random accessories or jewelry. (See Images 4-1, 4-2, and 4-3 for stores on the street.) Many western businesses like McDonalds, Doutor Coffee, and the Wolfgang Puck Express restaurant also dot the street.

      When you pop back out from Takeshite Dori and cross the street towards Harajuku Station, leaving behind you the unique collection of shops and teens, you are immediately taken in by the sights of Harajuku Bridge. The main passage from the metro and JR lines to Meiji Jingu Mae Shrine, the sidewalk over Harajuku Bridge and across from Yoyogi Park is loaded with youth who have set up parade blankets and strewn out their belongings on them to hang out for the day. Here, and especially on Sundays, you will commonly see the collection of different varieties of youth fashion subculture side by side: a few girls dressed in frilly Lolita Maid outfits carrying around candy in their oversized handbags or a few guys in Punk or Gothic garb smoking cigarettes on the street corners. They will look up causally from time to time, and pose for pictures, but generally seem to be existing in their own world apart from the large crowds of tourists from Japan and around the world who are making their way through this diverse setting. Many are here to see Meiji Jingu Mae Shrine (a very important Shrine dedicated to the late Emperor Meiji), but more recently tourists are flocking to this bridge to see Harajuku’s youth culture. Most often they are hanging out, watching music and dance, or participating in the fun and vibrant happenings that seem to pop up around Harajuku and in Yoyogi Park. It is important to note that although in the past four years cosplayers have really moved to Akihabara and other cosplay event locations as meeting points (see below section on Akihabara), you can still see some them in Harajuku from time to time. Due to internet misconceptions about large groups of cosplayers still hanging out in Harajuku, many Western and international cosplayers will now travel to Harajuku in full costume and astound the Tokyo locals when they travel on the Metro (train) system. If youth fashion expression is a subculture and somewhat niche interest for Japanese youth, imagine what it is like to see international youth coming to emulate that subculture! Needless to say, it stands out quite apparently, and the shy practitioner may consider changing in the train station bathroom when they arrive at Harajuku or Akihabara.

      Cosplayers often come together to attend conventions, concerts, and public gatherings devoted specifically to cosplay. Every year there are cosplay conventions in Japan, and anime, video game, and sci-fi conventions also support those from the cosplay community. The world’s largest and most famous comic convention, Comiket (also known as Comic Market), is still held in the Odaiba Area of Tokyo, Japan bi-annually. Dojinshi, or fan-produced manga, that cannot be found anywhere else in the world are sold here. Cosplayers from around the world often spend months or even years making costumes to wear to this convention. Layers Paradise, held in Odaiba each year is arguably the biggest cosplay event of the year at this time in Japan. Cosplay parties held at amusement parks, nightclubs, and cafes now draw followers to new parts of Tokyo (specifically Akihabara, which has generated a huge tourist industry as people flock to see cosplay and the community surround it in Tokyo) and greater Japan to interact with the ever-growing group. Karaoke is also a popular activity to engage in cosplay!

Coming Soon: Please be patient!