Kyoto International Manga Summit

Just another boring day in Japan.

From Kyoto 2008

Busy people on their way home from work.

From Kyoto 2008

A crowd of average Japanese gathers on a public lawn.

From Kyoto 2008

Ha ha, just kidding! It's a private lawn.

No, seriously. This is the 9th Kyoto International Manga Summit.

From Kyoto 2008

I paid $5 for the museum (including the opportunity to photograph cosplayers) and $5 for a special exhibition which turned out to be a tourist trap. Basically it was a small collection of comics from around the world, including all the Anpanman characters and a wall of old Superman comics.

There was also a live presentation of kamishibai, probably one of the last in Japan. I got to see an Ōgon Bat story performed live by a highly entertaining Japanese storyteller. Most of the kids seemed enthralled. Did you know that GeGeGe no Kitaro was originally a kamishibai?

I wasn't allowed to take photos indoors for copyright reasons, so here's a photo of some Haruhi cosplayers.

From Kyoto 2008

To get this photo I asked "sasshin wo totte mo ii desu ka" which seemed overly formal. I'm not sure if Japanese teenagers expect me to be polite or casual.

For no apparent reason there were maskers at this convention. I apologize in advance for showing you this photo. If you don't want to see something really freaky please turn back now.

From Kyoto 2008

Please note that the person under this mask is most likely a man.

Haha. I just blew your mind.

One masker was disturbing enough but he appeared to have shown up with several of his friends. I wish I had a better picture of the expression of the girl on the right.

From Kyoto 2008

That's enough of that. Posts about Buddhism to follow.