The staff at the hotel were up bright and early yesterday morning, waiting for the first teams to finally arrive in Nagoya. Eventually the bus arrived, packed with travel-worn but excited cosplayers and their organisers, with mountains of luggage!

It was another baking hot day in Sakae, so everyone was glad to get out of the sun into the sweet air-conditioning of the hotel lobby.

After a welcome and picking up their keys, people disappeared to their rooms to leave their luggage and have a little well-earned rest; some had been travelling for well over 24 hours! A bit of quiet, and then the lobby began to get lively again as another bus arrived; it was good to see teams from so many countries hanging out and getting to know each other on the first day. Some were determined to make the most of their time here and went out right away, to eat, shop and explore Sakae, or go on to Osu (Mandarake and Toranoana were popular destinations, unsurprisingly!).

Meanwhile, we were waiting for the arrival of the afternoon teams in the information centre...

With the teams' baggage containing their costumes behind us, including this, kindly modelled by Gustavo:

Then came a while of quiet, with most teams getting some much-needed sleep or food, and the others out exploring; but it was a good time to get to know the other organisers of the event. So for anyone wondering what the Summit is all about, here is Jimmy-san's tshirt:

This year the WCS won't be the only summit going on in Nagoya; alongside it is the first World Samurai Summit, whose display and poster is up in the lobby:

In the evening more teams went out for meals, or to get some first-night drinking in at an izakaya (I hear Korea is particularly impressive in this respect!). At last, just after 9pm, the teams and organisers from Tokyo arrived, after a madly busy couple of days. Even so, Spain, Mexico and the USA were looking cheerful and happy to meet the other team members in the lobby. Here's the USA and Mexico:

Later that night the Chinese team arrived, the final team; and hopefully everyone managed to get some decent sleep in time for a full day of meetings, exploring and excitement today!