Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fes 2018 Dates announced

Halloween has become a phenomenon in Japan.

A little over five years ago, Halloween wasn’t even a thing in Japan.  But that has changed as Halloween has become a major event in Japan were restaurants, bakeries, cafe not only found an event to take advantage of Halloween, similar to Christmas, it’s a month or even a week in Japan that many people look forward to because many businesses are taking advantage of it.

And similar to Christmas in the United States with parades, Halloween has now become so festive that there are parades now happening throughout Japan, especially in Tokyo where there are events that are family-oriented and there are events where cosplayers all over the world show up.

And in Ikebukuro, thousands of cosplayers worldwide flock to the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fes.

The event began in 2014 and it is drawing so much attention, according to event organizers, there are around 10,000 cosplayers from around the world that attend this event each year.

For visitors, it’s a free event.  Bring your camera/video camera and enjoy the festivities.  Bring some candy to give out to the children and have fun!

For those traveling to Japan during Halloween time, the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fes 2018 has been announced and it will take place on October 27th and 28th at Ikebukuro East Exit (keep going straight outside of the exit, heading towards Sunshine City, you’ll see a red carpet and thousands of people).

NOTE: I am using the map of Mister Donut because the red carpet is near the intersection where Mister Donut and Ikinari Steak are located.

On Saturday, there is a big stage event and parade, thousands of people show up on Saturday, while on Sunday, festivities continue but while not as humongous as day 1 (Saturday), it’s still a packed place albeit the event ends a little earlier.

Here are our photos we took from past events: