where are the cosplayers
Mon 2009/09/07 00:31 JST
I went to Harajuku today and spend a few hours doing this and that- but in the end it was a disappointment.
There was way to many people and among them i only spotted 5 cosplayers the whole day
the highlight was meiji-jingu and they had an ikebana "exhibit"
Where are all the cosplayers hiding???
sidenote- do waiters, clerks and basically everyone speak to you in japanese even if you are a gaijin?
sadly, i can only catch a few bits because their normal speed is "rapid fire" for me
pic from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10767591@N03/1137560428/sizes/o/
You're lucky to get to see any at all randomly during the day, here in the States we don't get that like... at all XD
Well... I spotted a few cosplayers yesterday while leaving Kinokuniya and heading to Jungle 2nd in L.A.'s Little Tokyo district. (I ended up buying the September issue of Dengeki Daioh there and the last Shakugan no Shana II Figumate of Shana that Jungle was selling.)
And basically, unless they can speak a second language, they will speak only in Japanese.
you're looking at the wrong place ^^ .. you should've gone to Akiba if you want to see cosplayers ^^ it's along the keihin-tohoku line
yep. most of japanese people can't speak in english. so they'll mix words in japanese with face and hand expressions. that rapid-fire-speed-thing is normal here. that's why they say that you can't really learn to speak japanese if you don't talk with real japanese. teacher's only teach you with normal or rather slower speed. don't worry, japanese people are nice tough. i encouraged you to try more!
Is this photoshopped? If you take notice at the girl's hands it looks bigger in proportion to the rest of her frame, not to mention...manly. In fact, I dare venture to say the face was cropped on.
now that you mention it, it looks that way. and i was about to ask the source of that pic . argh i was probably looking at a trap
The girls showing off their fashion and fancy dresses are usually on that bridge right outside the entrance to the shrine. There not there anymore? That's a shame. Was the highlight of going to Harujuku on a Sunday.
I don't see cosplayers very much in Akihabara anymore sadly unless they are working there or something. When I first got to Japan, before the Akihabara incident, there were lots and the streets were always closed for pedestrian traffic. Lots of shows, posing, singing, and just a great chance to see unusual things and cute girls. Miss those days.
Hmm, that's it, you won't find much more than 10 cosplayers on weekend. I think satudar 5PM is the best day to find them on Harajuku.
And yes, Tokyo is not a Tourist City, so most people don't even know or want to know english, just japanese.
i wouldn't call them cosplayers but all the fashion/gothic lolita stuff on the bridge have always been there on sunday afternoons when i stopped by... was that when you went or...?
if you're looking for cosplay, as mentioned, akiba would be a better place to look, but every since they stopped the sunday street closure it's really been a lot less common ;_;
In my experience, most clerks and store attendants do indeed speak Japanese regardless of whether you look Japanese or not. You are in Japan, after all!
Ａｓ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｈａｖｅ ｓａｉｄ ａｌｒｅａｄｙ， ｐａｒｔｌｙ ｄｅｐｅｎｄｓ ｏｎ ｗｈａｔ ｄａｙ ｙｏｕ ｇｏ？ Sunday afternoon was full when I went but yeah, also mostly lolita/punk rather than cosplay. Just think FRUiTS surely?
And in agreement with koganinjastyle. The Japanese are notoriously embarassed about speaking English, and why would they bother? :)