I attended the Japan Expo in 2008, 2009, 2010 and this year, 2012, and it was this year that I found to be the year with the least number of cosplayers in attendance. Maybe it had something to do with all the rain in Paris this year. Until now the situation had been similar to events held in America where you get 70~80% of attendees coming in cosplay, so I felt there was something missing from the event this year, but in that regard I guess you could also say it reflects just how accepted by the general public this event has become. It is largest event of its kind in the world after all and attracts more than 200,000 people each year.

The “karaoke” corner at the event was also a big hit and it was rather charming to see all those French people singing along to ani-songs and idol songs in Japanese. This year they even had a maid café. Today, the maid café is symbolic of Japanese culture and the level of service provided at these establishments is outstanding. I’ve been to more maid café’s overseas than I have in Japan but I hope that one day maid café’s in Akihabara establish some overseas branches of their own. The cosplayers, the Harajuku fashion girls, everyone at the event just looked so happy to be there. And at the center of it all was Japan. Just being able to share in this time together with everyone there definitely makes the trip to Japan Expo all worth it.

At the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu handshake session the crowd was treated to an appearance by a certain Japanese ‘yuru-kyara’ (mascot character). It was “Yanana-chan,” the mascot for one of Gifu’s shopping districts. It was completely unexpected to see such a niche character doing PR overseas, but I ran into Yanana-chan a number of times throughout the event and by the end of it we were getting along pretty well.