With Halloween just a few days away, people are starting to get their party on. In Tokyo’s Ikebukuro prefecture, cosplayers from around the world gathered for Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival 2014.
Over 10,000 cosplayers, from 22 different countries, strutted their stuff in the streets of the historic district. Even Ikebukuro mayor Takano Koreotto, who serves as an honorary executive committee member, arrived in top form. Koreotto attended the event in full-on Cyborg 009 cosplay.
He opened the event, which took two long years of planning to bring to reality, with a simple remark [1]: “Ikebukuro is a cosplay sanctuary, and I think it could be [the ward’s] start as Japan’s leading international culture city, and I think this is the big first step… With dwango and Animate’s town planning, and Nico Nico Douga’s new Ikebukuro headquarters, they want to send a reassuring message to the whole world. You guys, have fun together!”
The festival, which ran on October 25 and 26, consisted of several events, including photo shoots, stage events, and a walk across the city. It’s estimated that 52,000 visitors were on site when the event closed off, and over 256,000 actually stopped by during the course of the weekend.
There are countless amazing photos from the weekend, that hit social media, and local newspapers. We’ve gone ahead and posted our favorites below. Are there any that you caught that we missed? Do you have a favorite in our picks? Let us know in the comments!
[1]: Rough translation. Bing translates as follows: “Ikebukuro is cosplay sanctuary, and could start as Japan’s leading international art and culture city send the big first step I think… With dwango’s town planning came to reassure you animate, and Nico Nico douga opened Ikebukuro head office and also in the whole world want to send. You guys, have fun together!”
