World Cosplay Summit 2009 in Nagoya

This will be my last post from Nagoya,Japan.Im heading home tomorrow Monday after arriving here 10 years ago.I leave with mixed feelings which i'll try to explain once Im settled back home in New Zealand and had time to collect my thoughts.

For now though I'll end on one of the highlights of the local Osu Kannon Summer Festival.
The World Cosplay Summit have for the last few years since 2005 held a parade through the shopping arcade.Each year more and more competitors from around the world and local cosplayers take part in the parade.Each year it attracts more spectators and bigger crowds that watch the hour long or so parade through the malls streets.























The weather over the last week or so has been typically rainy season in nature.Very humid and intermittent downpours.In fact yesterday the rain pelted down earlier in the day.I thought the parade might be cancelled due to the inclement weather however it cleared sufficently for the parade to be held as scheduled starting at 3:30pm.























While it remained very humid the dull leaden grey skies above seemed to act as a backdrop to the very colourful costumes on display.Some of them were very detailed and obviously some deal of time and attention had gone into them.























As with past parades Ive been to the cosplayers are more than willing to pose for photos and talk with spectators.























The two cosplayers above came from Brazil and were among some of the 15 different countries competitors at the Summit including Australia,China,Italy and Korea amongst others.























After the Parade on Saturday theres a further event next day ie Sunday at Oasis 21 in Sakae where the Cosplay Championship takes place.The winners over the last 2 years have come from Brazil.

Endoji Tanabata Matsuri 2009

Once again the annual festival was held at Endoji Arcade not far from the Nagoya International Centre Building.























From July 29th through August 2nd this quaint,quiet arcade is covered with traditional tanabata decorations and huge paper mache floats hung from the roof of the covered arcade.














There were a variety of paper mache floats on display ranging from fish and manga characters to the local Dragons baseball mascots and cartoon characters.















The mall was crowded with kids on their summer break busy drawing their favourite floats while a number of stalls were also set up selling the usual summer festival fare such as hotdogs and choco bananas.