The 2010 Cosplay Summit is over, and preliminaries are just beginning for 2011, but there are still plenty of events going on around Japan.

Last weekend I took a trip to Tokyo for the world's biggest doujinshi event - which also has plenty of cosplay - Comiket.

Comiket (or 'Comic Market') happens twice a year, and attracts 35,000 doujinshi artists or 'circles,' and over 500,000 attendees; this was the 78th event. It runs over three days at Tokyo Big Sight, and the scale of it is enormous!
It's fairly easy to get there from Tokyo station, taking the Keiyou line to Shinkiba and then changing to the Rinkai line, getting off at Kokusai-Tenjijo station. I'm pretty awful at directions, but there were hundreds of other people headed in the same direction, as well as early birds already coming back from Comiket with doujinshi and goods under their arms.

From the outside, the Big Sight just looks like a building as you approach it:

I arrived at about 11:30 in the morning, and managed to avoid the absolutely huge queues that build up for the first few hours. Entry is free, and you don't need a ticket. So, armed with my trusty Comiket catalogue (which is the size of a phone book and contains listings for all the artists), I headed inside.

The inside seems almost magically bigger than the outside, and until later in the afternoon it's incredibly crowded. Doujinshi are sold in eight huge halls, with another two halls for commercial goods plus an outside cosplay arena. Because the area is so big and busy, I was glad of the maps that come with the catalogue, and the fact that I'd marked all the doujinshi circles I really wanted to visit beforehand.

This is part of one of the East halls from the outside, where people can take a break from the crush, sort out and flip through their purchases:

It took a couple of hours to find and meet my favourite artists and buy all the doujinshi I'd had my eye on; after that it was great to just wander around and see the amazing creativity that goes on at Comiket, including some artists who were cosplaying as the characters they draw, which was really fun to see.
Friday is generally supposed to be 'girls' day,' but there was a pretty even mix of male and female visitors, and doujinshi aimed at various audiences. While you can buy a lot of the doujinshi afterwards, either online or from shops like Toranoana and Mandarake, it's much cheaper to get them from events like this, with the added bonus that you can meet the artist as well.

After a little break I found my way outside to the cosplay area. Anyone can cosplay at Comiket, though you have to register and pay around 800 yen first. The cosplay area is the only place where you can take photos of the cosplayers, and anyone is welcome to go in and take pictures (though you should ask first).

It was very, very hot, but everyone was having a good time and the cosplayers looked fantastic.

The doujinshi halls close at 4:00 each day, and begin to quieten down around 3, so after I'd enjoyed the cosplay for a while I made my way up to the commercial halls, which are open till 5:00. This is where professional game and anime companies promote their series, such as Touhou Project, with free gifts like fans and toys.

At the end of the day I headed back to the station with crowds of other attendees. A lot of people stay up in Tokyo for the full three days of Comiket, and start planning for the event weeks in advance, especially fans of very popular circles whose doujinshi sell out in the first hour, and cosplayers who make costumes specially for Comiket.

It's mind-bogglingly huge, hot, and crowded, but there's no other event in the world that even comes close to Comiket; if you're in Japan during the summer or winter, it's worth going at least once; even if you don't buy anything, you're bound to find something to entertain you!

After the excitement of the Championship on Sunday, you'd think that nobody would have any energy for anything else. But Monday was the last day, and everyone was determined to make the most of it!

While some of the teams caught up on their sleep or spent a last few hours sight-seeing and shopping in Nagoya, the Japanese cosplayers as well as the Japanese, Italian, Thai and Spanish teams headed off to Mode Gakuen Spiral Towers near Nagoya station for the Symposium of the World Cosplay Summit, entitled 'Cosplay Subculture - Japan and Abroad'. Here are the cosplayers and staff arriving at the event:

Everyone got comfortable inside the lecture hall along with other attendees of the Symposium. Three cosplayers get ready for an academic morning:

Once it got started, we had interesting lectures and discussions in Japanese from various speakers, including Ed and Jackie, about various topics including the origins of cosplay, events, and the future of cosplay, not only in Japan but all over the world. A short question-and-answer session, and then it was time for another photo session.

And who is that fetching red mech in the middle? Yes it's Ed, after a lightning-quick change backstage!
All the cosplayers together, including the Japanese championship team:

Coming out of the Towers after the Symposium ended, the cosplayers drew attention from passers-by on their way back to the bus. Here's one group obligingly giving a pose:

Once back at the hotel, the teams were free until the evening. Then came the very last event of the World Cosplay Summit: the farewell party!

Gathering in the top floor of a Sakae club, cosplayers, organisers and staff drank and danced all together, and signed each others' tshirts as souvenirs of an incredible experience.

The teams also got the chance to watch the professionally recorded performances from Sunday's Champtionship; since they'd been too busy backstage to watch each others' performances properly, this was very much enjoyed, and each performances got a huge round of applause!
Some more dancing (and drinking!), and then it was time for speeches and thanks from a very merry Ed.

Just when we thought the night couldn't get any more fun, we were treated to the TV Aichi band!

As you can probably tell, this went down pretty well with everyone!
Here's Kishimoto-san giving us his best Marc Bolan:

The final treat at the party was a raffle for great manga and anime-related prizes, which caused much amusement, as you can see from the USA team's expressions:

All good things come to an end. One last photo of everyone together:

Then the party finally finished; some of us went on to karaoke, while others, who were leaving very early in the morning, went back to the hotel to pack.

So that was the close of this year's World Cosplay Summit; it was a fantastic party, with everyone showing the same good humour, enthusiasm and spirits that have been the trademark of the event ever since the teams arrived last week! We've had the opportunity to meet new people, make great friends and see some truly stunning cosplay. I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say thanks so much to everyone involved for making this year's Summit such a pleasure to be involved in!

Well, Sunday was the big day! And a long one, for everyone. But what a contest!

The day began with the teams out of costume at Oasis 21, to rehearse the opening and closing ceremonies with the host presenters from TV Aichi.

The teams practice dancing at the end of the platform:

It was great to see the show coming together, and excitement built for the night ahead!
After the rehearsal the teams had free time until 6pm, to relax and prepare for the Championship. Soon after they left, the other areas of Oasis 21 began to fill up with spectators and Japanese cosplayers, many of whom I recognised from the Osu parade;

Or from other cosplay events around Nagoya like CosDay.

Here's the event schedule for the evening, including the intermission acts:

After a while it got so crowded that it was quite hard to take pictures, so back I went to the hotel in time to catch the teams gathering in costume in the lobby. Here's Mexico and Denmark, both looking fabulous under the chandelier.

Then we were off, walking in full costume to Oasis 21, finally about to begin the Championship. Spain drew many admiring stares and exclamations as they made their way through Sakae subway station:

The teams moved slowly through the excited crowd, and eventually got backstage, which was soon a tangle of cosplayers, props and staff. Here Thailand waits for the opening ceremony:

Finally, it begins! Once the entrance ceremony is over, the teams quickly get going, and all that preparation and hard work at last comes to fruition. Here's Germany as Tamber and Tess from Children of Mana:

And the USA's beautiful and romantic Rue and Mytho from Princess Tutu:

After the first five teams came an intermission, with a mini live by Himeka, the popular anime song singer. Then it was back to the contest. A second intermission was held, featuring the idol group SKE48, who brought their own legion of fans. Here they perform one of their singles:

The third stage included France's ethereal and lovely performance as Morodashi and Marudashi from CLAMP's XXXHolic:

And Brazil's utterly breathtaking Brahms and Silmeria from Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria:

Here's China with a fabulously choreographed performance from Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3, as Musashibo Benkei and Minamoto no Kuro Yoshitsune:

After all the teams had performed, they gathered backstage to await the award ceremony, while out front there was one last intermission act from the singer of theme tunes from anime like Dragonball Z and Saint Seiya. The crowd was really excited by this time, after the fantastic performances, so they had a great sing-along; and even one of the other judges got in on the act:

Before long, though, it was time for the results! The teams all lined back up onstage, and it was wonderful to see the spectacle made by all their costumes together:

Before the main results were given, there was the Brother award for best costume. This went to Thailant, well deserved for their amazing Bahamut SIN costume and for Cloud's bike, which really blew everyone away. Here they are accepting their award:

Then, finally, it was time for the announcement of the scores and the winning entry.

The judges were rightly impressed by all the teams; but in the end one had to be the winner, and that one was Italy! Their dramatic and entertaining performance as Link and Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was well deserving of the prize. Here they are receiving their award, looking totally thrilled:

You can probably tell how happy Giancarlo is!

After one last dance at the end of the podium, it was at last time for the closing ceremony. The teams all took a bow, each one absolutely deserving of a place among the best cosplayers in the world!

This was definitely the highest standard of cosplay I've ever seen; it's hard to even begin to say how impressed I was; I was just enraptured by everyone's performance, and how hard they worked, as well as the great atmosphere behind the scenes!

After the closing ceremony, the teams packed up their gear with lightning speed and moved back to the hotel, as the stage was to be dismantled that same night. I walked back with Australia who, though exhausted after their energetic performance, were still in high spirits (and looking forward to finally being able to go shopping the next day!).

All in all, the day was an unbeatable experience, and I'm so glad I could be involved and watch the whole process and the coming together of such a spectacular show.
Do keep an eye on the Japanese and Chinese blogs on the TV Aichi website; even if you can't read it, there'll be some amazing pictures!

Also, take a look at the individual countries' blogs for professional standard photos, such as Finland's:
http://blog.cft.fi/

And Germany's:
http://www.wcs-germany.de/wordpress/

Well, more from me later!

Here's a quick rundown of the many events of Saturday, before the Championship day really gets going! The teams were at it for over twelve hours yesterday, but somehow remained energetic through to the end.

The day began with the Nishiki Red Carpet Parade outside the hotel; the lobby turned into a press centre.

The teams got ready in totally different cosplays to yesterday; first out on the red carpet came the samurai from the World Samurai Festival that's happening at the same time. Then each cosplay team paraded down the red carpet, accompanied by a member of idol group SKE48. Here are a few of the teams:

France looking lovely as Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus.

Italy look fearsome as usual as William Birkin from Resident Evil 2 and Rock Adams from Soul Calibur 4.

South Korea are striking as Jin from BlazBlue and Kamui from Vocaloid.

Mexico draw admiration as usual with their Diao Chan from Dynasty Warriors and Squall Leonhart from Dissidia: Final Fantasy.

After each team had made its way down the carpet being photographed by the press and the lively crowd, there was a photography session at the end of the walk; first the teams and SKE48; then the samurai joined in too; it was quite a display!

It was a baking hot day in Nagoya, as usual, so the teams were happy to get on the bus and take a ride back to the hotel, where some took a much-needed rest and others were interviewed by the press.
The next event was the big cosplay parade in Osu. We took a coach and microbus there, but had to wait a while because the sheer volume of Japanese cosplayers who had also come to parade was so great that it took a little while to sort them out. The teams and other cosplayers paraded through the shopping avenues of Osu, drawing a huge crowd, and then had a mini interview and performance in the Osu Kannon temple grounds.

Ed concentrated his camera on the international teams, while I took care of photographing the Japanese cosplayers. There were between 200 and 300, and it was really amazing to see the effort everyone had put in and their enthusiasm!
Here's a few pictures of the Japanese participants.

The imagination people use when coming up with their costumes is just fantastic!

And, of course, last year's winners Yuri and Rie:

After the parade and mini stage, the teams took the bus back to the hotel, where some only had a few minutes' rest before they had to go straight back out again, down to Oasis 21 for a rehearsal of their championship performances. The others followed soon after. Even without full costumes and makeup, I could already see that the standard was unbelievably high; today's championship will be something amazing for sure!

Backstage was a sea of props, cosplayers and staff, making sure their stage placing would be perfect on the night. Each team then ran through their performance with backing sound and visuals.
As an example, here's a quick pick of Thailand as Final Fantasy: Advent Children's Bahamut SIN and Cloud Strife (one of my all-time favourite characters):

The teams were both worked up and tired after such a long day; but there were still the opening and closing ceremonies to rehearse.

They somehow managed it, however. Then back to the hotel for as much rest as possible, because today is the big day, and needless to say it's going to be long.

Well, that's all from me until after the Championship. Come and watch if you can!

Today dawned bright and early, and another crazily busy day began.
In the morning there was a meeting for all team members and organisers, where the teams in three stages chose the order for the Championship on Sunday.

And we finally got a picture of all the teams posing together, in front of the results of the order draw.

The teams then dispersed, and had about an hour and a half to get ready in their first costumes for a long round of events. After a while they began to emerge in all their glory. There was lots of admiration for each others' costumes, and a great atmosphere in the lobby. Here's Mexico and Spain getting close:

Australia take a dance around the lobby while waiting for all the teams to gather:

After plenty of time for photos and chat, the teams split into two groups. Group A went off to meet the mayor, visit the Nagoya Convention Centre and then go on to Nagoya Centrair airport to perform and be interviewed. I went with Group B; we took a bus ride (which included a rousing sing-song from the Italian team!) to Chunichi Shinbun, a Nagoya newspaper office. Here they are looking fabulous just outside.

Some teams were interviewed while the others, like France and China here, were in constant demand for photos:

You can't imagine a more elegant group!

After that it was back on the bus, where multilingual genius Pol interpreted for everyone.

Next stop was the TV Aichi studio, where some teams relaxed while others practiced for their appearance on the live programme 3ji no Tsubo.

The Mexican, Chinese and French teams appear with some samurai on the live TV show!

After the programme had finished, everyone went outside, and the cosplayers had their pictures taken with the samurai and the cute TV weather girls. They certainly made an eyecatching group!

Afterwards, the Australian team met an Australian samurai! It's a small world after all...

What with the heat and humidity in Nagoya today, everyone was glad to finish up and get back on the air-conditioned bus. The teams had been out and about for hours at this point, but were still going strong. Some of the entrants for the Japanese cosplay heats joined us at this point, and we followed Group A out to Centrair Airport; a few people took the opportunity to have a much-needed snooze.

Arriving at the airport, we met Rie and some of the other Japanese cosplayers.

Group A arrived, and the teams had some dinner - Tenmusu, a Nagoya speciality.

The final event of the day was probably the most exciting - a party for the teams to meet Japanese cosplayers, chat and take pictures with them. First was a performance from last year's Summit winners on the big stage.

Following this, the teams from Group B came up on stage and were interviewed. The Japanese cosplayers were very impressed with how great they looked!

Then everyone was free to mingle and take photos; I took so many of fantastic costumes and poses from international and Japanese cosplayers that it was literally impossible to choose which ones to post here; for now's here's Italy with Mario and Luigi!

And Brazil and Spain looking totally fantastic:

To finish up, the teams and Japanese cosplayers got back up on stage and had a little sing and dance. You have to be amazed at how much energy everyone still had after such a hard day!

Back on the bus for one last journey back to the hotel. Here's a final photo of our Japanese group, still in costume:

A massive well done to everyone who worked so hard today; looks like tomorrow will be even busier, so stay tuned!

If you've been following us on Twitter, you'll have a pretty detailed view of what's going on in the lead-up to the Summit weekend; but here's a few photo moments for anyone who missed it!

The action for the day began, as usual, in the hotel lobby around the information desk, where teams were working on building and checking their props.

Around mid-day, more teams began to come down, getting ready to go down to the TV Aichi office or otherwise go exploring. It was a good time for various team members to meet and chat with each other and with the organisers (and get some lunch from the information centre).

Whatever Ed is showing them, he's very proud of it!

Here's the German team and their crew heading out to the TV station for their stage planning meeting and interviews.

After that I left the hotel and went on down to the Sakae branch of TV Aichi, and found the German team waiting for their meeting, discussing what they wanted to sing at tonight's karaoke party:

Once each team had finished their meeting, they went downstairs to record a fifteen-second introductory video to be played at the Championship. Team America spent a little while rehearsing, to much general amusement, and then recorded a great take.

Ed giving some creative suggestions:

The last task before free time and the karaoke party was some media interviews, which will be uploaded to the English-language Japanese culture news site, Yokoso News. The teams talked about their cosplay experiences, and how they're finding Japan so far (needless to say, everyone is having a great time!).

The teams didn't finish being interviewed until after 8pm; then off to Kanayama for the big karaoke party. Hopefully everyone will manage to get a decent night's sleep after the fun, because tomorrow will be a busy day!

The staff at the hotel were up bright and early yesterday morning, waiting for the first teams to finally arrive in Nagoya. Eventually the bus arrived, packed with travel-worn but excited cosplayers and their organisers, with mountains of luggage!

It was another baking hot day in Sakae, so everyone was glad to get out of the sun into the sweet air-conditioning of the hotel lobby.

After a welcome and picking up their keys, people disappeared to their rooms to leave their luggage and have a little well-earned rest; some had been travelling for well over 24 hours! A bit of quiet, and then the lobby began to get lively again as another bus arrived; it was good to see teams from so many countries hanging out and getting to know each other on the first day. Some were determined to make the most of their time here and went out right away, to eat, shop and explore Sakae, or go on to Osu (Mandarake and Toranoana were popular destinations, unsurprisingly!).

Meanwhile, we were waiting for the arrival of the afternoon teams in the information centre...

With the teams' baggage containing their costumes behind us, including this, kindly modelled by Gustavo:

Then came a while of quiet, with most teams getting some much-needed sleep or food, and the others out exploring; but it was a good time to get to know the other organisers of the event. So for anyone wondering what the Summit is all about, here is Jimmy-san's tshirt:

This year the WCS won't be the only summit going on in Nagoya; alongside it is the first World Samurai Summit, whose display and poster is up in the lobby:

In the evening more teams went out for meals, or to get some first-night drinking in at an izakaya (I hear Korea is particularly impressive in this respect!). At last, just after 9pm, the teams and organisers from Tokyo arrived, after a madly busy couple of days. Even so, Spain, Mexico and the USA were looking cheerful and happy to meet the other team members in the lobby. Here's the USA and Mexico:

Later that night the Chinese team arrived, the final team; and hopefully everyone managed to get some decent sleep in time for a full day of meetings, exploring and excitement today!

One last non-cosplay-related post before the competitors start arriving in Nagoya next week. The weather (fingers crossed) is looking good, and everyone is excited for the events leading up to the Summit and the competition.

This time I’m back to attractions in Nagoya, and focusing on manga and doujinshi goods. There are plenty of places around the city that carry a wide variety of manga, such as Animate near Nagoya Station, or Wonder Goo in Osu, or the second-hand store Mandarake, which I talked about in an earlier post. The largest of them, though, is the Nagoya branch of the nationwide chain, Toranoana. This shop specialises more in manga and doujinshi-related products than the others, carrying new fan comics from almost every series you can imagine.

Toranoana is in Sakae, but the easiest way to get there is to take the Sakuradori subway line, and get off at Hisaya-Odori station. If you come out of Exit 2, you’ll see the store pretty much in front of you; it’s seven floors high and bright orange, so it’s hard to miss.

Like many Japanese stores of this kind, it doesn’t open until 11:00 on weekdays and 10:00 at weekends; but it doesn’t close until 8 or 9, so it’s good for an after-dinner browse if you’re in Sakae.

The first floor is the ‘Media Floor,’ carrying CDs, DVDs and doujinshi software and other original goods; the last time I was in there, they had an incredible amount of Touhou Project stuff, so fans of this series will be happy.
The second floor (my personal favourite) is the floor ‘for girls’; here you can find manga, novels, boys’ love comics and doujinshi, as well as artbooks and some cosplay magazines.

Unlike Mandarake, everything here is new, with many recently-released doujinshi; so if you like a particular circle and can’t get to the conventions where new releases are normally sold, you may be able to find what you’re looking for here. The goods on this floor tend to be of fairly recent manga and game series’, like Hetalia; I did manage to find an Evangelion doujinshi too, though, which made me happy:

The next floor up is where you’ll find ‘general’ manga, magazines and novels. You have to pay for your purchases floor by floor, which can be slightly annoying if you’re buying goods from lots of different sections, but the variety makes it worth it.
The fourth floor is mainly manga and novels aimed at guys, with some second-hand doujinshi. The fifth is doujinshi yet again, for all ages, and also goods like doujin figures and model kits; some of these are really pretty, but the best ones on display are mostly already sold.

The sixth floor holds software, games and doujinshi ‘for guys’. This is pretty much the adults-only floor. If you keep going up, though, the seventh and final floor has a lounge with vending machines and a space where shoppers, presumably exhausted with buying stuff, can relax and eat.

If you were to explore Toranoana top to bottom, it would literally take hours. While there’s not much chance of finding old or rare items as you might in Mandarake, this store is brilliant for new manga and doujinshi. It also has notices about events like conventions around Japan, and carries the official catalogue for Comiket, which is coming up in August.

The representatives for Brazil at WCS 2010 have been determined, they are Gabriel Niemietz and Gabrielle Valério with their performance of Lenneth and Brahms from Valkyrie Profile.

Gabirel was a part of the WCS championship team from 2008 and he put together a winning performance again this year. It will be good to see his costume up close, he has done another impressive job. Congratulations!

The Brazil representatives are about to be announced, below are the 9 teams competing for the prize. Each team survived a regional round, thanks go to Igor and all of the JBC for compiling the information below.

Preliminary Round Course of Events
[1] Preliminary rounds were held in 8 different locations within Brazil.
[2] The winners of each of the nine selectives of WCS2010 - JBC Brazil Stage, plus the champions of WCS2009 - JBC Brazil Stage, will make the national final at Festival do Japão 2010 (Japan Festival 2010), on July 18th. The Brazilian representative team will be chosen on this day.

1st Preliminary Round(Anime Yuu):March 28, 2010(Londrina)

WCS 2006 champions Maurício e Mônica Somenzari performed from Sengoku Musou - Warriors Orochi 2

2nd Preliminary Round(Anime Festival BH):April 11, 2010(Belo Horizonte)

WCS preliminary veterans Nathalia Lelis and Gabriela Birchal performed from the game Odin Sphere

3rd Preliminary Round(Mercado Mundo Mix):April 24, 2010(São Paulo)

Loren Louro and Carolina Michelli performed from the manga Clover

4th Preliminary Round(Animextreme):May 16, 2010(Porto Alegre)

WCS world champion from 2008 Gabriel Niemietz joined forces with Gabrielle Valério this year to perform a cosplay from the game Valkyrie Profile

5th Preliminary Round (Rio Anime Club): May 23, 2010 (Rio de Janeiro)

Petra Leão e Alessandra Fernandes performed from Honey Honey

6th Preliminary Round(Kodama 2010):May 30, 2010(Brasilia)

Bruno de Castro and Danielle Braz performed characters from Metal Gear Solid 3

7th Preliminary Round(II RPGCON):July 4, 2010(São Paulo)

Renato Lopes e Tamires Posenato did a performance from the manga Fairy Tail

8th Preliminary Round(Sana 2010):July 16, 2010(Fortaleza)

Elília performed Terra Brandford and Italo did the Emperor Palamecia from Final Fantasy Dissidia

WCS 2009 Representatives

Renan Aguiar e Geraldo Cecílio

In effect 3 of the 9 teams that made it to the final have past Brazil representatives and the final is sure to be a high level affair. Look forward to the announcement coming soon!

Another rainy day here in Nagoya, and we're all hoping it will clear up by the time the Summit comes around.
In the meantime, what better way to brighten up the day – literally – than with some Lolita shopping? While this beautiful, elaborate fashion isn't as visible in Nagoya as it is in Tokyo, you can still spot lolita at weekends, in the department stores of Sakae and around the streets of the Osu area: not only the popular sweet lolita (ama-loli) style but also the more restrained 'classic' lolita and the dark, striking gothic lolita. Whether you're Japanese or not, this fashion will still turn heads in Nagoya.

The central shopping spot for lolita here is Sakae. Around the corner of a string of department stores (Maruei, Skyle and Melsa) is a building called Nova.

It looks pretty plain from the outside, and is best distinguished by its HMV sign; but the 5th floor is a heaven of petticoats, parasols and general frilly indulgence. Probably the most well-known brand in here is Baby The Stars Shine Bright, made famous by the film and novel Kamikaze Girls. It stocks lolita clothes in a range of styles, along with its sister store, Alice and the Pirates, which has a slightly more adventurous, costume-type look.
Next to this is the reigning queen of sweet lolita brands, Angelic Pretty; if pink doesn't do it for you, then this shop may make you feel a bit ill – but otherwise this is like stepping into a candy-coloured paradise.

For those who prefer their frills a little more sedate, there is the Victorian and Rococo-inspired Innocent World, whose fashions, like many of the others in Nova, can be found decorating the pages of the Gothic and Lolita Bible magazine, which is now also published in English by Tokyopop.

And once (if ever) you become overwhelmed by the cute, the 5th floor also contains Na+H and Atelier Boz, whose clothes lean more to the streamlined, gothic, visual-kei side of the fashion, as well as Sexy Dynamite London, which goes for a retro, UK punk feel.

Like ball-jointed dolls and many of the other Japanese subcultures, lolita is not a cheap hobby. Accessories are fairly reasonable, but a shirt can cost up to $200 and a full dress easily $400. The lolita community as a whole, both in Japan and overseas, is one of the most unbending when it comes to its fashion do's and don'ts, although there's plenty of room for creative people to make the most out of what they do own, or even sew their own outfits from scratch.

It's possible to find marked-down prices at second hand stores; Violet Blue in the Osu shopping arcade is a good place to start.

The clothes aren't that much cheaper, but they are all in good condition and you can sometimes find things there from past seasons that aren't for sale in the brand stores any more.

Lolita certainly isn't for everyone; but when you're fully dressed up you do feel fantastic, even if your skirts take up two seats on the subway; when you do buy something, the (also beautifully dressed) shop assistants make you feel like a princess. If you're in Nagoya, it's definitely worth a look!

The Japan Preliminary will be the last of the 15 to be held leading up to WCS 2010. As in 2009, the event will be held simultaneously with the Championship which is August 1st this year. 7 groups will be performing, up from the 5 groups from last year, and some familiar faces made it through the selection process. Many of the teams have already set up twitter accounts so if you are on twitter you can follow them and cheer them on:

Twin Park

Umi and Riku are twins who participated in last years WCS Japan preliminaries. Over the last year they have been living on the East Coast of the USA. They were actively cosplaying there winnning the Best Novice award at NYAF 2009 and Judge's Award at Anime Boston 2010. You can find them on twitter here.

097

The only male team this year is "097" (read as Onakyu) and their names are Hidehiko Misaki and Don Obiichi. This is the first appearance at the WCS for both of them. Find their twitter account here.

Dekoboko

The term Dekoboko or （凸凹） means "uneven or bumpy" referring to the fact that one member is much taller than the other. Yori Yori and Naokichi are excited to be participating and as this is Yori Yori's first time she says she is a little nervous but looking forward to meeting cosplayers from around the world. You can follow them on twitter here.

Syuri

This pair of Mariko and Syutona are newly formed this year. Mariko is a veteran cosplayer with over 10 years experience and has appeared as a member of Barbara in WCS 2006 and 2009. You can find their twitter account here!

Akira to Shiguma

Akira and Shiguma participated as Osaka representatives in WCS 2007 and since then have become increasingly active internationally, traveling to events abroad several times over the last year. Check out their twitter account here!

Wankorabo

Kikiwan has participated in the Japan Team B group that won the Runner Up prize at WCS 2007. This is the first time to participate for Ooji, she says that she can communicate in English alright and is looking forward to meeting everyone. Leave a message on their twitter account here.

Paradise Kinga

This team of Eria.91 and Yuma.92 is a new pairing for WCS 2010. Last year Eria participated with another partner for the WCS 2009 Japan Preliminary and this will be the first time to see Yuma on the WCS stage. They do not have a twitter account yet but if/when they do I will post it on the blog here.

Coming up is the Brazil preliminary next weekend, stay tuned for the results there!

The French Preliminaries were held on Saturday July 3rd at Japan Expo in Paris. The winners for 2010 are Laura Salviani and Cecile Auclair who performed Maru et Moro from XXX Holic.

Their costumes look spectacular, I look forward to getting a closer look at the wings that they created, the images are very impressive.

Laura and Celine were the WCS representatives for France in 2008 demonstrating their strong skills to come out on top of the preliminaries again.
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(Pictures by Puka)

Congratulations Laura and Cecile, see you in a few weeks!

In a flurry we have had Thailand, USA, Korea and China representatives decided, this weekend we have 2 more countries determining their representatives for WCS 2010: Singapore and France. We will post information on the winners right here as soon as we get confirmations.

Also keep an eye out on our twitter feed, starting this weekend we will be using the COSPLAY_SUMMIT feed for both English and Japanese tweets, so choose your favorite language and click on all of the photo links because there are no linguistic difficulties in the links and attached images.

The China preliminaries were held this year with the sponsorship of China Joy at the Japan Industry Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010. The World Cosplay Summit event itself was created as a stage competition that was focused on leaving lasting impressions at the Aichi Expo 2005 in Japan 5 years ago. In this way the event is maintaining its roots by holding a stage presentation in the Expo this year.

The winners this year are Wang Lin and Lee Hou who performed as Musashibou Benkei and Minamoto no Kurou Yoshitsune from the PS2 game "In a Distant Time 3".

See you in a month!

After a spring filled with rescheduled events due to civil unrest the Thai preliminaries were finally held.

Orawan and Patawicoon performed as Cloud and Shin-Bahamut from Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.
Congratulations!

Next up from me is another Nagoya attraction: asian ball-jointed dolls. These resin dolls are often known better as Super Dollfie, which is actually the name of the most well-known Japanese brand, from the anime and mecha figure makers Volks. You can find fans of these dolls from all ages and walks of life, including those interested in other Japanese subcultures like anime, games and visual-kei music.

The modern BJD market started up around 1999, and while Volks was the premier maker for a long time, there are now dozens of companies around Asia. BJDs run from under 20cm to over 70cm tall, and one of their most attractive points is that they not only have articulated, fully poseable joints, but that there are literally hundreds of different face moulds, which can either be decorated by the manufacturer, or customised by the buyer, so you can be sure your doll will be unique. Lots of people have their dolls cosplay particular musicians or film and anime characters, from Sephiroth to Naruto.

There are many doll owners in Nagoya, and regular meet-ups between friends and larger groups to exchange clothes, take photos and walk around the city. Nagoya also has its own branch of Volks, makers of the Super Dollfie line, which is worth checking out not only for the BJDs and accessories but also the many other figures Volks makes.

The Nagoya Volks Showroom can be slightly hard to find (I got lost for about an hour when I went there to buy my first doll). It's fairly near Osu, taking about 10 minutes on foot from Kamimaezu station. The Showroom is on the second floor above an optician, and is hard to spot from the street, and is open from 11:00-20:00. If you're interested in taking a look, here are the official directions:
http://www.volks.co.jp/en/volks/sr/nagoya.html

Once inside, you'll be surrounded by stacks of mechs and figures. The Super Dollfie are in an area of their own; there's usually a display of dolls with limited edition costumes or customisations to look at. Then there are several moulds of heads and bodies you can buy right there (for more popular or rare moulds, you'll need to order them in), as well as a large range of wigs, eyes, clothes and other accessories, including furniture such as gothic chairs and sofas.
The staff are very friendly if you show your interest; I went eight months between visits, but they still remembered me and what doll I had bought there. Nagoya also has special events every year where you can buy limited-edition dolls and accessories, and many people meet up with their dolls.

This is the doll I bought from the Nagoya store; he's a fairly common mould, but because each one is fully customisable, from colouring to hair to eyes, no two are the same. I can't deny that it's a fairly pricey hobby, ranging from a couple of hundred dollars for the smaller dolls to thousands for rarer, larger models. Having only intended to get two, I eventually caved in and now have six; but not only is it very satisfying to customise the dolls and create their costumes, I've also met a lot of great people and been to many places in Japan and back home in England that I would probably never have seen.

If you're interested and feel like learning more, check out Den Of Angels, the biggest English-language BJD forum:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums

Almost 4 years of writing the WCS blog on my own has been an enjoyable yet at times lonely stretch. I would like to introduce you to a friend who will be helping out with the blog: Lucy Glasspool. She is attending Nagoya University as a visiting research student doing her doctorate at SOAS University in England. Her research interests lie in character images and their differing interpretations through genres and gender. She will be posting to the WCS blog so please welcome her with a comment below!

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With the Summit less than two months away, I thought I'd go local in Nagoya and take a look at some of the pop culture-related sites of interest.

First up is the Nagoya branch of well-known second-hand manga store Mandarake. It has online shops in both Japanese and English (http://www.mandarake.co.jp/), but delving through the delights of one of the actual stores is an experience in itself, because they have so much more than just manga (I've spent an easy three hours in there before). The building is in the main shopping area of Osu, easily accessible from both Osu Kannon and Kamimaezu subway stations, and is open from 12:00 to 20:00.

Nagoya's Mandarake, while not as big as other stores in the chain, has 3 large floors of actual shop, which are divided into sections for (supposedly) easy searching, though I always do a good bit of rooting around before I actually find what I want; then again, that's half the fun, and you never know when you'll come across a hidden gem. The 1st floor has vintage comics, shounen manga, trading cards and games, with some pretty ancient titles for nostalgia-lovers. It also has some vintage figures.

Up the escalator to Floor 2, you'll find thousands of toys and figures, Japanese and Western, crammed onto shelves that reach up to the ceiling, and collectors can spend many a happy hour here amid the chaos (there are a few Super Dollfie here too, and some clothes and wigs, although the range is fairly basic – for a better selection, check out Nagoya's own Volks Showroom). This floor is also the home of the anime DVDs and CDs.

Up again to the 3rd floor (my personal favourite) for the cosplay, doujinshi, shoujo and boys-love manga and idol goods. The cosplay section has some of the more popular costumes, wigs, and a few Lolita clothes from brands like Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty. This floor's main attraction, though, is the doujinshi section, from every series imaginable, at an average price of 400-600 yen. The room is divided into those aimed at girls, and those at guys, so that in late afternoon and weekends the 3rd floor is crammed with avid shoppers completely divided by sex (a female friend and I wandered over into the guys' shelves once, and managed to terrify some poor browsers, for whom the appearance of two foreign girls on their sacred turf seemed to be a bit of a shock!).

The shelves of Mandarake are many, the aisles are narrow and fairly confusing, and during busy periods people will tread on your feet – but it's worth it to finally locate that long-sought-after item you just couldn't find on the net, or stumble across something you just suddenly have to buy. And Mandarake also has special sales and events in its 4th floor space, including the Cosplay Dance Party, and sessions where cosplayers can pose with props and have their pictures taken by Mandarake's photographers for 1000 yen.

More to come soon,
Lucy

I took some pictures of cosplayers who I passed that had some great costumes, I will add the pictures in this post, enjoy!

As one of the largest anime/manga events in the US FanimeCon had a lot going on. The event has been held since 1994 and with around 15,000 guests in 2009 it is one of the top 10 anime conventions in North America. I took a look around and have a lot of pictures for you. I will split them in 2 posts, this one will be event related pictures and the next will be a random sample of outstanding cosplayers.

The event space was divided in large convention halls with the dealer room holding a vast assortment of anime, manga and related goods to choose from. Above are some guests checking out anime titles.

There was a great amount of manga titles in English and a few in Japanese.

A number of stalls sold figures, they had their wares stacked impressively high providing a feast for the eyes.

Another of the convention halls was dedicated to fan artists who similarly displayed walls of impressive drawings and paintings.

There was a giant hall dedicated solely to games and they had networked computer games...

human chess matches and...

a number of arcade games lined up for people to try out. This is a shot of a variation of Dance Dance Revolution which not only responds to your foot steps but also recognizes your hand movements. There were a group of people around the game dancing para para along with the music.

In the main area outside the convention halls on the second floor there was a stage that hosted a variety of events including rap performances and fashion shows. Here is a karaoke singing event presented by a group of maids.

The cosplay masquerade was held in a completely separate theater complex across the street from the convention hall. It was a massive space that must have housed a passionate audience of I would guess 2000 or so cosplay fans. The picture does not do the performances justice, they were truly spectacular and the show ran for almost 3 hours.

I am surprised at how few pictures I ended up taking, the memories remain strong but of course its hard to capture everything. There were so many more things that I didn't even get to see, suffice it to say that this was only a small portion of the convention and there was plenty more to see and do.