WORLD COSPLAY SUMMIT 2006

Speech by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso

Finally, the 5th of August is here! The day before the Cosplay Championship, the ‘Mixer event for cosplayers from Japan and abroad’, the annual ‘Osu cosplay parade’ and the first-ever ‘live TV broadcast program of all participating representative cosplayers’ were held.

< 1:00pm-2:30pm Mixer Event >
The changing rooms opened at 11:30, and even around 10:00am when the staff gathered at the headquarters of TV Aichi, there were already many people there holding carrier bags in one hand! The Mixer Event began at 1:00pm, but perhaps because the event was limited to the first 80 participants, it seems that the first cosplayers to arrive came around 6:30am! Needless to say, as soon as the changing area opened, the 80 participant was reached very quickly. Our apologies to all those who couldn’t get in.

The Friendship Exchange was held at “Komok” in the Goodwill AMP building, the same location as last year. With cosplayer representatives from 8 countries besides Japan, there was around 120 people gathered together in the hall, enjoying taking photos and talking.