The 10th Japan EXPO 2009 showcased a growing movement with ten years of momentum. The official website presents a more comprehensive picture of what the show is and aims to be. The theme of the show is Japan, featuring a large buffet of knowledge and entertainment including Presentations of Cosplay, Fashion, Live House, Anime, Traditional Culture, Martial Arts, Video Games, and Iconic Mania.
But here are some of my impressions having been a part of it. In some ways, to walk the show you might just as well have followed Alice down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. In this post I feature a selection of photos from the floor showing close encounters with creatures I admit having never seen in Japan. But then I have focused my attention living in Japan on traditional arts such as Aikido and Calligraphy. Even living in Tokyo, I have probably spent more time in Kyoto than Harajuku, so it's possible to have missed it entirely.
What was most interesting was to see the French faces beneath the masks and body paint, to enjoy how eagerly they posed for pictures, and to get a sense for what must have been a similar fever for Japanese culture during the first wave of Japonisme, a term coined in 1872 by Jules Claretie in his book L'Art Francais, triggered by Ukiyoe and costume, and influencing artists from the French Impressionists to Vincent Van Gogh and Henri de Toutouse-Lautrec.
Almost impossible to put it all together, but hope you enjoy some of what I saw walking the floor and capturing the flow and the fantasy of bodies and faces. Many of them were armed with replica weapons, Chinese or Japanese swords, medieval studded mace and chain, and modern machine guns. Some were oddly capped with elf-like hats, or the headwear of a Buddhist Priest, even good old fashioned pirates, alongside cuties in cosplay and parasols advertising free hugs. And masses of people everywhere speaking French, of course. It was as if somebody flicked a switch, and suddenly Final Fantasy became Temporary Reality.
Here are 13 images.
Click on any of the pictures to get a closer look.
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