ANA Group, Japan’s largest Airline, has launched “IS JAPAN COOL? COSPLAY” as a part of the “IS JAPAN COOL?” campaign website which aims to attract more visitors to Japan from overseas by highlighting the beauty and wonder of the country.

“IS JAPAN COOL? COSPLAY” website showcases 44 energetic cosplayers representing 20 countries for world’s largest international cosplay competition called “The World Cosplay Summit (WCS)” held in August, with their profiles and comments from a foreigner’s point of view.

Visitors to this site can vote to rank their favorite cosplayers just like WCS Juries.

Through introducing the Japanese cutting-edge pop culture “Cosplay”, ANA aims to attract foreigner’s interest in Japan and its culture.

Photos above: “IS JAPAN COOL? COSPLAY” Top 3 rankers (as of Sep. 6, 2012)
1. TAIWAN Char Zaku / Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam)
2. JAPAN Ninja (Original)
3. ITALY Rei Ayanami / Asuka Langley (Neon GEnesis EVANGELION)

About The World Cosplay Summit (WCS):
An international level cosplay competition held annually in Nagoya, Japan created to promote international exchange through the Japanese youth culture of manga and anime. The competition brings together contestants from all over the globe to showcase their prize-winning costumes.
“Cosplay” is a Japanese word derived from the English words “costume” and “play” and it refers to wearing character costume and playing the part of various genres like manga, anime, games, etc.

About “IS JAPAN COOL?” web site:
The 1st series focused specifically on cool Japanese culture, with over 100,000 site visitors casting their votes as to whether the featured locations and trends were “cool” or “not so cool”. The 2nd website predominantly features new attractions in Tokyo, where an exciting mixture of old and new Japanese culture thrives, and in Okinawa, a picturesque resort in southern Japan. We hope you enjoy your visit to the “Is Japan Cool?” website and look forward to your vote.

For more: https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/#/cosplay ‘)}