Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival

As Shibuya and Shinjuku have recently banned nightly Halloween street parties due to concerns about potential scuffles, Ikebukuro is trying to establish an exemplary organization with its cosplay festival named Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival (or Ikehalo). It takes place on the last weekend of October inside the Sunshine City complex and its surrounding streets located in the east of the JR station. The Ikehalo 2024 has attracted 161,000 participants according to the event’s promoters.

The yearly cosplay festival welcomes 3 types of participants:

• Cosplayers who come here to showcase their art;
• Photographers who need to register to be allowed to take pictures; and,
• Onlookers, who can enjoy the festival freely while walking in the area.

The 2 first categories have to pay an admission fee to take part in the festival and follow good practice guidelines. Other than that, Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival is open to everyone including cosplayers that are new to the trade, be they individuals or professionals. The most popular participants are usually veryalready active on social medias.

The supervising of the event allows for a good-natured and relaxed atmosphere, maintaining respect towards the cosplayers, despite being quite crowded and with a handful of photographers ready to go all out to capture a snap of the most attractive costumes. Bear in mind that one should always ask permission before taking someone’s picture.

A cosplay gathering open to everyone

Set on the daytime, this family-friendly event is free for its spectators, who can admire beautiful costumes, some of which are quite sophisticated. Cosplayers parade dressed in famous characters from Japanese or international pop culture, and even if not well-versed in all the cultural references one can still be impressed by the realistic aspects and creativity behind the cosplays. Halloween on the other hand, is more of a seasonal excuse rather than a mandatory theme, so many costumes have nothing to do with the pagan festival.

Various animation are also set up in Ikebukuro district during the 2 and a half days of the festival, such as:

• A cosplayers’ parade that takes place on the Saturday afternoon around the Hareza Ikebukuro complex;
• Naka-Ikebukuro Park’s main stage, where several cosplay shows and other performances take place every day;
• An arm wrestling contest for men and women; and,
• Various exhibition stalls for do it yourself cosplays, to learn more about this popular culture and how to become a cosplayer in Japan.

Cosplayers gather at Sunshine Plaza, an outdoor space accessible from Sunshine City’s 4F floor, but they also stroll around in the streets and visit the shops partnering the festival. The urban East Ikebukuro Central Park is also used as a rest area for the participants.

If you can’t make it to the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival, you can still attend to one of the acosta! conventions that are similar cosplay events frequently staged in Sunshine City.