At the end of the year, my good friend Vail invited me to go see the semi-annual KOMIKAT convention at the Tokyo Big Sight. The Big Sight is located in Odaiba, which is in Tokyo, overlooking the waterfront. This is a pciture of one of the Big Sight Convention Center buildings.
Odaiba is located on Tokyo Bay, next to alot of new, modern and spacious high-rises. It's a very cool place to just hang out and explore. Museums, shopping, resorts, hotels, etc.
The event ran Thursday thru Sunday. I was only able to go on Saturday. Even so, with it being in Winter, on Saturday there must have been 80,000 plus people there. Here I am in line to get in at 9am.
A sea of people...
For some of the special exhibits, there were more lines.
Going from building to building. There are about 6 main buildings. This was an event where 90% of the vendors were people who made their own comics, called "Manga". Only about 10% of the vendors were big companies.
Amazingly, about 80% of the vendors were women selling their own "romance" comics,...and over 50% of the attendees were women too. Not what I expected.
The big companies gave away alot of "swag", and some of the more racier comics were big hits with the guys....of coures...
What I found the most interesting was the 10,000 people doing "COSPLAY"...which is "COStume PLAY". They dress up as their favorite comic or anime heroes. I was very happy to be able to figure out who 1% of the people were. Below is Genma and Ranma Saotome, from the series "Ranma 1/2".
No idea who these folks are...but nice costumes!
Alot of anime and manga series have "Maids" in them...so she could be from almost any series I think.
Lots of people wearing armor...and lots and lots of blond hair!
There were alot of "Jack Sparrow's",...and alot of home made comics featuring this series too....some of it very very very bizzare.
A cute bunny....again, I have no idea what series...
The blonde guy is from the "Final Fantasy" series....
I have no idea about this series, but there were alot of people dressed up in this style of black and white leather....
Hair colors of every hue...and most ofthese costumes were very very elaborate!
And a number of full body outfits. No idea the series again...
No idea.... great costum tho!
Still no idea...but nice group!
I think alot of people dress up in their favorite "series", then look for others with the same series outfit. I think alot of folks also really enjoyed having their pictures taken.
The outer deck area was about as big as a football field, and it was all set aside for people who wanted to have their photos taken in costum.
Dragon Ball Z....
No idea...but is that a person in a "baby chick" outfit?....Yep...sure is!
Alot of Renessance outfits too
And samurai outfits also...
It was a blur...most people were moving around...a few stood still and staked out a spot to pose.
Another shot of Ranma and Genma Saotomi. Where is Shampoo?
No idea...he looks like a Game Show Host...
There were also alot of people dressed up as classic characters, such as Alice, from Alice in Wonderland.
Odaiba and shopping/resorts/amusement centers in the background.
These ladies are also from some series, but I drew a blank again.
Lunch time...fortunately there were alot of food places here.
Another very cool outfit.
Another couple...having fun.
It was an adventure getting from building to building...
These guys must have been very hot in these full body robot suits.
The next week we drove up into the mountains above the base to Tama Lake. Very different than downtown Tokyo. Tama Lake is pretty big, formed by a dam.
It was on the cool side, but for the middle of January, not too bad! It was nice to get a chance to go on a drive in the mountains.
Here I am looking at my beautiful wife....
There was a light breeze, but not too much of one. So, the lake surface was pretty calm, and allowed this shot.
Looking down from the top of the damn. The white building at bottom is 6 stories tall.
Teresa and Sisko look my way when I whistle at them!
Not what most people think of when they think of Japan...but alot of the country is covered with trees and parks.
The "boys" posing for Teresa....:)