Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

ands emerged slowly, and fans of these artists started
cosplaying as their favorite artists in Akihabara and in
Harajuku, the mecca of new fashion, every Sunday. Started
by a group of amateur cameramen in the late 1990’s, the
first cosplay-only event was held and was called Tokyo
Cosplay Character Show. A thousand people showed up
and crowded into a small hall every weekend. Now, the
event continues to run twice a month, with more than
two thousand regular attendees. Moreover, amusement
parks in Tokyo realized how huge this new trend has
become. Cosplay Days have since become regular
events at amusement parks like Korakuen, Toshimaen
and Yomiuri Land in Tokyo usually on Sundays. Unlike at
some cons, weapons and props can be freely displayed
at these events. Through these huge and unrestricted
events, cosplay has become more and more open to
regular society and is spreading internationally. And
since countless cosplay conventions and parties are now
held in Tokyo, people who hid their interest before are
becoming free to talk about and show what they love.
Magazines about cosplay and Gothic Lolita fashion are
sold in major bookshops, and over a hundred internet
cosplay shops are filled up with orders for new costumes.
The stereotype of a typical young Otaku is someone who
is isolated and shy. But that’s changing rapidly through
cosplay: a vivid way to express oneself.
Kigurumers
Dressing up like one’s favorite characters seems like
a natural spin-off of Anime and comic conventions.
Even so, there are Otaku who are not satisfied merely
by wearing Anime costumes. For whatever reason, they
needed to get inside the character’s body. These people
are known as Kirigumers. Kirigumi is the Japanese word
for a person who wears a character mascot costume to
greet customers at amusement parks or department
stores. Kirigumers make a character costume and a face
mask to go with it. Not an inch of actual skin is shown
to outside world. Since some Kigurumers cover their
faces in layers of cloths, there is a risk of asphyxiation.
The mostly male Kigurumers might be seen merely as
cross-dressers. But the visual strangeness of this fetish
makes them even more far out than regular
gender-benders. Simply by dressing up, Kigurumers
cross the boundary from fantasy to real life, from 2D to
3D, as they break a host of other taboos as well. Kigurumers
claim that the mask is not there to hide their
face; they sublimate themselves inside the costume
to act as a medium for the character’s motions and
thoughts. The mask is the character’s head; the tights
are the skin. Unlike cosplayers, Kirugumers are not wearing
costumes. Rather, they physically and psychologically
ENGAGING MODERNITY: RELIGION, GENDER, AND ART 153
inhabit their characters.
Comiket
Comiket, an abbreviation of Comic Market, is an Otaku
multiverse made real: a three-day pile up of all possible
Japanese subcultures at once. It is a self-contained citystate
that springs up at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba twice
annually during summer and winter. Some 30,000
people are estimated to attend each session, making it
one of the largest gatherings of people in the world. The
biggest draw for Comiket is dojinshi, limited edition of
fan-made publications usually in the form of comics but
also increasingly as floppy disks or CD-ROMs known
as dojin-soft. The subject matter is often of parody of,
or an erotic take on, a popular Anime or Manga property
like Naruto or One Piece. However, numerous other
subjects and topics are covered in the non-Manga dojinshi
margins: from chatter about live-action superheroes to
obsessive dissertations on canned soft drinks. Production
values for printed goods range from crudely photocopied
‘zines to squarebound books with glossy covers. Dojin
soft can contain anything from simple illustrations, to
cosplay pictures, to original and fully playable videogames.
An individual either makes a dojinshi on his or her own,
or as part of a clan of artists called a circle. Some 10,000
dojin circles are crammed into the Tokyo Big Sight
exhibition halls. A red-hot dojin circle dojinshi can sell
out of a printrun of as many as 100,000 copies. The
total amount of money that exchanges hands at a single
Comiket is a whopping ¥1 billion. The profit from an
independently made dojinshi can be bigger than that of
a Manga from a major publisher. This great gathering
of Otaku circles may have begun as a purely fan-driven
movement in 1975. But then, major corporations, sensing
the big money involved, have now moved in and set
up their own special section. While Comiket itself offers
free attendance, showing up without any cash to spend
might prove cumbersome for fans as ATM machines
give up early on and buying dojinshi is a cash-only
affair. Begging dealers for discount or bargain is considered
un-Otaku like.
Comiket is loosely organized around themes: for instance,
December 29 is Women’s Day, when a good deal of
dojinshi is devoted to yaoi works. The roles are reversed
on the 30th, Boys’ day. An immense sea of porn, the
most popular section of Comiket, stretches out as far
as the eye can see; most of them are even more explicit
than what can be normally found in Akihabara.
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows