Taiwan has formally joined the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) this year, despite having hosted the event twice, with Taiwanese winners having the chance to vie for a global award in Tokyo in August.
Cosplay is a combined term for “costume play,” and has become a global craze in which people dress up as a character out of a comic book, manga, video game or anime, and are known as “cosers.”
Taiwan Cosplay Promotion Association director-general Chen Hung-ming (陳宏名) said the Japanese organizers waived the third year of review for Taiwan — after the nation’s two years as an observer member — fast-tracking its entry to the 20-strong club, Chen said.
Photo provided by the Taiwan Cosplay Promotion Association
To qualify, Chen said, Taiwan had held national contests, with the results assessed by experts as being at an international level, with performance criteria based on the resemblance of cosers to their original comic character in terms of overall looks and performance content.
The summit is an international event that was established in 2003 by TV Aichi, which wanted to promote Japanese pop culture through global exchanges. In 2012, the summit was formally incorporated as WCS Inc.
Mighty Media vice general manager Chin Chi-hua (金啟華) said the nation’s competitions are to take place on May 11 in Hsinchu County, possibly with a series of events — such as an outdoor anime carnival or an international cosers’ exchange — running alongside the competitions.
Applications to the contests closed on Thursday.
According to the Japanese World Cosplay Platform’s newest rankings table released on Sunday last week, four cosers in the top 10 were from Taiwan, further backing the nation’s claims to be an official member.
While No. 1 is Reika from Japan, second, fourth, seventh and eighth-placed Ninagawa Mika (八荒曜), Mon Meng (Mon 夢), Akatsuki Tsukasa (紅月司) and Neneko (肉感少女) respectively are from Taiwan — far outstripping the number of Japanese in the top 10.
When asked about Taiwan becoming an official member of the WCS, Tsukasa, who has been a judging panel member in international cosplay competitions, said she was very happy.
“It is rare for us to be able to share our experiences with foreigners who enjoy our hobbies. Such an event creates the feeling that we have no distance between us, no matter the size of the world, or what language we speak,” she said.
Editor-in-chief of magazine Dream & Cosplay, Tang Wei-chun (唐維駿), said that Taiwan’s qualification was heartening.
“This is great affirmation of Taiwanese cosers,” he said, adding that the cosplay phenomenon was first picked up in Taiwan by college and high-school students, but is now finding a broader following with children in elementary school.
“Children with parents who are cosers are bound to get hooked,” Tang added.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
RSS