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Tokyo Politicians Cosplay for Ikebukuro Halloween Event
posted on by Eric Stimson
Since 2014, the annual Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fest has brought tens of thousands of cosplayers to Ikebukuro's streets to celebrate Halloween; it is also livestreamed on Nico Nico Douga. At this year's event on October 29, two local politicians appeared in cosplay: Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, impersonated Princess Sapphire of Princess Knight, while Yukio Takano, mayor of the local ward, Toshima, donned a Mario outfit.
"Don't feel ashamed. Get into your role," Koike advised. Regarding her choice of character, she explained, "This all started from Tokiwa-sō in Toshima Ward." (This was the dilapidated apartment Osamu Tezuka, Princess Knight's creator, worked in.) "When I was young I read it all in Nakayoshi." (The Princess Knight manga dates to 1953, one year after Koike's birth.) "Maybe you can tell a person's generation by what they cosplay as," she admitted.
The governor went on to express her enthusiasm for anime and manga. "These days anime and manga represent 'Cool Japan' [an ongoing government campaign to promote Japanese pop culture]. Beyond sports, I'd like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to go to the roots of Japan's cultural diffusion with subcultures like this."
Joining Koike and Takano are Dwango COO Daisuke Yokosawa (on the left) and Animate CEO Minoru Sakashita (on the right).
Koike is supportive of the anime industry and has declared that she'd like to turn Tokyo into "anime land." Last Halloween she cosplayed as another female manga/anime icon of yesteryear, Sally the Witch. Nagoya's mayor, Takashi Kawamura, also indulges in cosplay — he dressed as One Piece's Luffy in 2012 and Dragon Ball's Piccolo in 2011. Hideaki Ohmura, governor of Aichi Prefecture, meanwhile, cosplayed as Lord Dessler from Space Battleship Yamato.
Sources: Asahi Shimbun Digital, My Navi News and KK Kyodo News Site
