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Do you want to wear your cosplay costume and make photo shooting in Japan? Actually, various cosplay events are organized every weekend somewhere in Japan but it’s rare I meet cosplayers from foreign country there.
Although I have read many English articles writing about cosplay in Japan, I have not seen a specific guide to find cosplay events that Japanese cosplayers attend to take pictures. So, I decided to write about this theme today.

There are some Japanese websites that Japanese cosplayers are checking to search events. The famous ones which have long history would be:

<KETTOCOM>
http://ketto.com/
*You can find the events for dojinshi as well as cosplay.

<COSPLAYERS ARCHIVE>
https://www.cosp.jp/event_list.aspx
*Events and studios for cosplayers are introduced.

In addition to these 2 websites, there are various events’ pages run by each event organizer. However, most of events are posted to these websites as well usually.

Incidentally, the information about cosplay events is usually posted only in Japanese language except for some big events like Comiket or World Cosplay Summit. That obviously makes non-Japanese speakers feel difficulty to participate in the local events. If an event organizer is struggling with gathering cosplayers, I recommend the organizer to write posts also in English because there are people who are interested in local events but at the same time are worrying about causing mis-communication trouble.
Actually, as far as I attended the overseas events, there are some rules and manners required only in Japan, which should be explained well English.

In my opinion, the different points (local rules) would be:
– Usually, it is not allowed to come to the event wearing the costume (it is required to use the changing room in the event venue.)
– Some events require cosplayers and photographers to make booking in advance.
– Some events do not allow men to wear female costume.
– Some events do not allow cosplayers and photographers to wear shoes inside of the venue. In case cosplayers use shoes, the soles must be cleaned or covered by tape.
There are also other rules depending on the event, but these points are ones I don’t often see in overseas countries and would like to let cosplayers know in advance.

I as cosplayer participated in various overseas events in the past and met many nice friends there, with whom I am still keeping in touch. I would be happy if cosplayers coming from foreign countries would enjoy the photo shooting in Japan and local cosplay events more and more in the future!!