World Cosplay Summit 2011
Conferment of Foreign Minister's Prize and Cosplayers' Visit to Tohoku

August 2011
Japanese

1. World Cosplay Summit 2011(Conferment of Foreign Minister's Prize)

As the ninth iteration of the event, World Cosplay Summit 2011 saw participation by representatives from each country that won in the preliminary rounds, which consisted of 17 countries from around the world (including Japan). On August 3, a total of eight representatives from the Netherlands (first participation), China, Malaysia (first participation), and Mexico visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the participants and paid a courtesy call on Mr. Chiaki Takahashi, Parliamentary Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs.

On August 7, the World Cosplay Championship was held in Nagoya. The winning team from Brazil was bestowed with the Foreign Minister's Prize from Mr. Naoki Murata, Director-General of the Public Diplomacy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2. Visit to Tohoku by World Cosplay Summit Participants

Representatives of Spain, Italy (runner-up), and Denmark, who participated in the Championship, visited Tohoku to give their support to the region.

• In Sendai, which they visited on the 10th, the representatives visited Sendai City Hall, were welcomed by a sengoku busho (Japan's civil war commanders) group, and interacted with local cosplayers.
• On the 11th, they visited Aizuwakamatsu City, paid a courtesy call on the mayor, were guided by the tourism guide group, Samurai City Aizu-tai, interacted with local cosplayers, and enjoyed local cuisine and traditional craft making.

This experience in Tohoku is presented in detail on the official website, World Cosplay Summit 2011 (http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/wcs/index.html), and it is expected that the participants will broadly communicate their experiences there in each of their native countries.

[Notes]

1. Overview of World Cosplay Summit

Having started in 2003, when five guest cosplayers were invited from Italy, Germany, and France in the program "Manga is the Common Language of the World" by TV Aichi, the World Cosplay Summit marked its ninth iteration this year. The World Cosplay Championship has been held since 2005, with representative teams participating from 17 countries, including Japan.

2. Purpose of World Cosplay Summit

The summit aims to contribute to the "creation of international exchange through youth culture originating in Japan" with the help of manga and anime.

3. World Cosplay Summit and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Having enjoyed strong international popularity in recent years, cosplay is spurring many people from all countries, especially youth, to deepen their interest and understanding of Japan and to participate in international exchange. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers the World Cosplay Summit to be in line with its policy of actively employing pop culture in its cultural diplomacy, and it granted name sponsorship to the project from 2006 to 2008 and has been a member of the hosting Executive Committee since 2009. It has also conferred a Foreign Minister's Prize for the event since 2006.