MichaelMcKinlay.com

In North America, Halloween is the time of year for kids and even adults to wear costumes. However in Japan, Halloween isn’t celebrated. This doesn’t mean that the Japanese don’t like to dress up from time to time. In fact, the Japanese like to call dressing up “Cosplay,” which is short for “Costume Play.” I know the word “Cosplay” sounds odd but the reason for this is that the Japanese like to borrow a lot of foreign words, and when they do this they often shorten the words to make them easier to pronounce. Hence Costume Play becomes “Cosplay.”

“Cosplay” is far from popular, however among the more, how shall I say, “nerdier” members of society it really seems to be taking off. In North America “Cosplay” is also gaining popularity and this is can be seen with more and more “Cosplay” conventions taking place for fans of Japanese animation. The University of Calgary even has a yearly festival called “Otafest” and for more information all you have to do is go to Otafest here.

Recently, I was in Japan and there is one really cool department store called “Tokyu Hands,” and no that isn’t a typo, it is actually spelled “Tokyu” and not “Tokyo.” Tokyu Hands has a lot of interesting products and one of these products are costumes. Unlike most costumes people buy for Halloween here, the costumes are of good quality and are relatively expensive, around $70 US. I’ve never seen anyone wear these costumes as I suppose they are themed more for umm ahhh “adult situations” or “Cosplay’ conventions but here are some pictures!

It might be difficult to see, but written on the packages are names for each costume. The names are as follows: “My Pretty Maid,” “Angel Nurse” and “Honey Maid.” Hmmmmm I wonder what the different between a “Pretty Maid” and a “Honey maid” is, or perhaps the most important question of all.. does it really matter?

Here is a mannequin dressed in a muscle man body suit with red pants. My favorite touch is the mayor’s sache which reads “Sukebe Daihyou.” This sentence translates to “Horny Representative”

For all you Borat fans out there, this is a season’s must have! Yes, a man thong! Or could it be a string bikini, oh well I guess we’ll never know! My favorite part of this outfit is in the package that it comes in… If you look closely, written at the top, it says “Let’s Enjoy Your Life” and really, how could you if you didn’t have this high quality garment? I believe it retails for only $20 US! What a deal!!! I’ll take 2!!!

In a way I kind of feel bad for posting this article as it will probably just perpetuate the stereotype of the Japanese being twisted… Japan is one of the most decent places on the planet however everyone should be allowed to get a little silly!