Cosplay Photos!

If our spectacular cosplay event on the 15th wasn't enough for you (or if you missed it) and you're simply dying to dress up, June 7th is International Lolita Day!

In honor of this event, Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York City is teaming up with Del Rey Manga, Samurai Beat Radio, and VIZ Pictures to hold the very first Lolita and Maid Day. So dust off your parasols and bonnets!

“We’re proud to help create Lolita and Maid Fashion Day at Kinokuniya,” New York Anime Festival Show Manager Lance Fensterman said. “Lolita and Maid fashion have quickly become two of the most prolific ambassadors of anime, manga, and Japanese culture in America, and the New York Anime Festival couldn’t be happier bringing these fashions to New York City – the fashion capital of the world.”

Kinokuniya’s Lolita and Maid Fashion Day will include special all-day activities as well as a series of Lolita and Maid-themed speakers and presentations. But what I'm most excited about is the cake!

Café Zaiya on Kinokuniya’s second floor is going to be serving up a special menu of Lolita and Maid-themed desserts made especially for Lolita and Maid Day.

There's more information here.

Time to Break Out your Gundam Suit, Bunny Ears, and Oversized Sword!

Since last year's Cosplay Party was...

...rather popular, we're doing it again!

At 2:00pm on Saturday May 15th, the huge Cosplay Party begins! Included will be a screening of Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone (2010, 100 min., Japanese with English subtitles, PG-13) in our big screen theater, delicious onigiri (riceballs) and tea, a photo booth, free admission to Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters, and of course...

 ...costumes!

We're holding a costume competition all day Saturday with special appearances from Uncle Yo, Mario Bueno, World Cosplay Summit 2009 Team USA, and manga Artist Hiroki Otsuka. Prizes are coming to you from Kinokuniya Bookstore and the musical entertainment is none other than cosplay DJ Ruby Red.

We can't wait to see what you guys come up with this year!

Cosplay Party 2.0 is Coming!

May 15!

Following the massive success of Japan Society's KRAZY! Cosplay Party in 2009, we're hosting our second annual cosplay event, Cosplay Party 2.0, in conjunction with the exhibition Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters. Fans are invited to create and showoff costumes of their favorite characters, and share their enthusiasm for anime, manga, and video games.

This is just your first heads up! There will be more posts chock full of details closer to the date, so keep an eye out!

Brutes, Beauties & Beasts

Calling all manga lovers!

Sign up for one or more two-hour sessions with internationally acclaimed artist, Hiroki Otsuka, Japan Society’s Mangaka-in-Residence. Start your visit by seeing our exhibition: Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters: Japanese Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Arthur R. Miller Collection.

Choose one or more of the five themes from the show as the inspiration for your character: Warriors, Beautiful Women, Theater, Landscapes, and Humor. Workshops take place on the first floor in the Murase room amidst a bamboo garden and an indoor waterfall.

Starting March 13th!

The first residency of its kind in the United States in terms of content, scale and breadth of public engagement, Hiroki Otsuka will create an original full-length manga (Japanese style comic book) inspired by the work of Kuniyoshi—often working on site and visible to visitors. In addition, Otsuka lends his talents to an array of related activities, including the illustration workshops for the general public and New York City high school students (mentioned above), devising and judging an international manga competition, blogging about his work and experience at Japan Society, and creating original Kuniyoshi-inspired artwork to be made available to the public.

Otsuka will also participate in Japan Society's food-themed all-day festival j-CATION (April 10), and the Society's second annual cosplay event, Cosplay Party 2.0 (May 15), for which he will create promotional artwork.

"Kuniyoshi's love of complex narrative, his busy, frenetic style, his powerful characterization, his inventive use of space, and his mass-market appeal all mark him as a grandfather of contemporary manga," says Joe Earle, Director of Japan Society Gallery and organizer of Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters. "We are underlining the parallels between Kuniyoshi’s work and contemporary manga by asking Hiroki Otsuka—an outstanding manga artist living in New York—to serve as our mangaka-in-residence, inspiring visitors by creating his own meta-narrative about Kuniyoshi and his work."

Otsuka's yet-to-be titled original manga, which begins production on the March 12 opening of Graphic Heroes Magic Monsters, centers on a teenager who comes to Japan Society's exhibition as part of a school group. The student literally gets drawn into the artwork as a Kuniyoshi-inspired warrior and is called on to save New York City from the multitude of monsters marauding throughout Kuniyoshi's prints.