This is the second part of the interview with the German team. You can read the one from Annabell if you click here, today we have the interview from Iris. (Iris is in front in the picture above)

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1 WCS 2009 is still a ways off but I would imagine you are looking ahead to
it. What is the current overall state of your preparations?

After the preliminary I can't belief that we won. But now I'm looking forward to next summer ^^
At the moment I'm very busy with my job so I can't do much cosplay. I hope during my Xmas holidays I can start sewing. Until then I will be working a bit on our homepage.

2. What manga and anime you like, why do you like those titles? What are your favorite characters and why?

Oh a lot! Depending on my mood I watching all kind of shows. Only I'm not so into series' with mechas in them... ^^'''
Currently I like the series Ga-rei-zero, Michiko e hatchin and Vampire Knight.
Strong,straightforward and maybe a bit bold characters are what I like the best.

3. What was your criteria in choosing your costumes, either the ones for the championship or otherwise?

I don't put a lot of time or consideration into choosing my costume... it's just a gut feeling ;)
Personality is an important factor, such as Belldandy's (Ah! Megami-sama), she is so gentle. However sometimes I just love a dress like Haruhi's (Suzumiya Haruhi) Gothic Lolita version.

4. Could you tell me what your performance at Connichi was like?

Marino told you already the details ;)
I like the part with the feathers. How they fluttered in the dim light was so pretty.

5. How was the reaction of your family when you won the competition?

My family is not really into my hobby, but they think travelling to Japan is a great thing.

6. What do you find fascinating about Japan?

Many parts of Japan are fascinated me! The people, the culture and history... I hope I can see and learn a lot more about it. As an interior designer I'm curious about the shops and buildings I will see ^^

7. What do you hope or expect to find once you have arrived in Japan?

I hope we will have a good time there and maybe make some new friends. Of course I will take many pictures, eat good food and go sightseeing :)

8. Do you like Japanese food? If so, what do you like?

Ohhh, I die for it! *laugh* In Düsseldorf, a town near where I live there are many Japanese restaurants, supermarkets and even a bakery. I love the yummy ice with red bean-paste which look like a fish and of course ramen, sushi and okonomiyaki.

9 Could you please provide a comment to your present and future fans and readers of this blog?

First I wishes best luck to all the cosplayers who will join the preliminary for the WCS.
I want to thank you for all the support and congratulations. I hope you all will enjoy our show!

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Thanks Iris, I am sure you will have many chances to enjoy the food while you are here!

The winter holidays is coming up and as you can see there is not much going on with preliminary rounds. The next one coming up will be Mexico at TNT GT3 in Mexico City from January 30th until February 2nd. Until that time I am going to try to get you more interviews with selected representatives for 2009 but besides that I have time on my hands. I am going to be in Tokyo during the holidays and I have a question for you. What would you like me to look into when I am in Tokyo? I can get you information on anything you want, food, anime shops, Akihabara, anything! (Well maybe not Tsukiji Market, that is now off limits to visitors...)

As I was in Tokyo for Christmas I called up some people weren’t busy and we got together for dinner and drinks. Regardless of the Christmas celebrations, in Japan people keep working until the very end of the year and get their holidays at New Years and into January. Many people will work regular schedule on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I was lucky that a few people had the time to get together.

In the picture you can see from the left Chokko of Barbara, (WCS 2006 Japan Web), me, Oyama-san (WCS 2005 China Organizer) and Chokko's friend Franchesca who was a participant at the China Cosplay event in Tottori Prefecture earlier this year. Too shy to be in the picture was Goldy (WCS 2006 Tokyo) click on the link and scroll to the bottom to see his real face!

Happy Holidays everyone!

This is the first installment of a series of entries that I have put together from my trip to Tokyo in late December. Todays installment will be about a great figure shop I found.

A building with perhaps the best selection of figures in Japan is large but all of the figures are also a little tough to find. If you go out of Akihabara station at the Electric city exit you will see the rapping electronic sales man in front of you and this view if you look 45 degrees to the left like this:

This is basically the building but all of the collectible figures are on the 5th and 6th floor. Walk to the base of the building and go up the escalator. Take it up to the 4th floor and then walk up the stairs to the 5th and 6th floor. Here is the store entrance:

On the 6th floor you can find the Super Dolfie store that I will tell you more about in a future entry. This store also has a variety of other dolls that you can buy as is or put together. There is also a great variety of Mech figures. Here is a shot of a life sized figure/statue of Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken found on the 5th floor:

Of course you can find Gundam but there is also massive wall displays with Berserk, Mighty Series, The 5 Star Stories, Macross, Super Robot Wars, Total Eclipse and Strikers.