Japan exhibition attracts colourful crowd

The opening night of JAPAN: Kingdom of Characters at RMIT Gallery attracted a colourful crowd of cosplayers in addition to the regular art lovers - much to the delight of dignitaries such as Yasufumi Kotake, the Acting Consul-General of Japan in Melbourne.

Cosplayers are anime fans who dress as their favourite manga, anime or video game anime character. They devote considerable time, money and effort into creating elaborate costumes.

A large group from Manifest, the Melbourne Anime Festival enthusiasts, arrived at the opening dressed in style.

Mr Kotake was thrilled to see so many anime fans in elaborate costumes and spent time with the young crowd, who were happy to pose with him and the larger-than-lifesize Hello Kitty.

In his opening night speech, Mr Kotake spoke of the powerful influence that anime and manga had on the minds and hearts of Japanese people. He then explained a recent social phenomenon in Japan demonstrating that influence, called "the Tiger Mask Charity Movement".

RMIT Gallery Director Suzanne Davies said many regular Gallery visitors joined in the fun and took photos of themselves with the cosplayers on opening night.

"As you can imagine, those magical swords were put to action by cosplayers battling with Amuro Ray from Mobile Suit Gundam. The regular gallery crowd enjoyed themselves immensely."

Ms Davies said that young people, families and school groups had flocked to RMIT Gallery to see the exhibition, which is on until 19 March.

The summer exhibition includes Japanese figures, panels, film and character-related products that showcase representative animated characters from the 1950s until the present day

"JAPAN: Kingdom of Characters and the accompanying exhibitionRevolutionising Anime: Production I.G.'s pursuit of ultra-realistic fantasy have really captured the public imagination," Ms Davies said.

"The exhibitions have proved to be a great insight for audiences into Japanese subculture, particularly anime and manga, which has been increasing rapidly all over the world."