Aichi’s Cosplay Experiences Special Feature
Aichi is home of the Japanese Cosplay boom sweeping the world. Every year, the World Cosplay Summit is staged in Nagoya, drawing thousands from overseas, and many, many more from across Japan to take part in dressing up as your favorite anime, manga, or game hero or character. In Aichi, you can dress up as a samurai, in a Meiji-period costume, and more all year-round. Here’s what and where…
Inuyama CityInuyama Castle Town
Feel and look like a samurai
Experience wearing samurai armor in the Showa Yokocho area of the Inuyama Castle Town, where the locals have studied under a true armor craftsman to create lightweight but realistically shaped aluminum armor for events, and for visitors to try on. Available weekends only!
Inuyama Castle
- Inuyama Castle is the oldest remaining of just five castle keeps designated as national treasures. The Warring States period-structure displays graceful, elegant curves and traditional architecture that belies its harsh, military background. A must-see on your trip through Japan!
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Kiyosu CityKiyosu Castle
Become a registered International Samurai at Kiyosu Castle
Alongside the Kiyosu Castle keep, in the Kuroki Shoin Hall, are sets of armor hand crafted by the Kiyosu Armor Workshop. Visitors can wear samurai armor or the gorgeous women’s kimono of a Warring States-period princess as they walk the grounds and halls of Kiyosu Castle. Take pictures of yourself in front of the imposing keep in full samurai armor and register to become an International Samurai, receiving a printed certificate!
Okazaki CityThe Iyeyasu and Mikawa Bushi Museum
Experience samurai armor at the shogun's birthplace
Open from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, the Iyeyasu and Mikawa Bushi Museum on the Okazaki Castle grounds provides an opportunity for visitors to wear samurai armor for free, after paying for museum admission. Get ready for battle and take a picture in front of the Okazaki Castle panel on display!
Okazaki Castle
- Famous for being the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1542, and for its summer fireworks, Okazaki Castle was the bastion of the Tokugawa clan throughout the Edo period. The keep houses a fine museum containing weapons and armor.
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Inuyama CityMuseum Meiji-Mura
Make Meiji-period memories at Open-Air Museum Meiji Mura
Meiji-Mura is an open-air museum of historical architecture, structures, and items from Japan's Meiji period (1868–1912) arranged in a theme park-like village in historical Inuyama City. To make your visit all the more real, you can rent Meiji-period costumes to wear as you tour the park and see the old buildings, taking great photos and making great memories.
Japan Monkey Centre
- Inuyama’s Japan Monkey Centre is 500,000 square meters of 35 attractions' worth of amusement. The park is home to botanical gardens and over 650 primates of 70 different varieties from all over the world. See chimps, gorillas, gibbons, monkeys, mandrills, apes, and simians from Asia, Africa, and South America.
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Inuyama CityLittle World Museum of Man
Dress up and see the world without leaving Inuyama
See the world—the Little World—in Inuyama! Little World is an open-air village theme park displaying architecture and culture from around the world! Some of the villages even have traditional costumes for you to try on for a nominal fee, letting you get a true sense of cultures from around the world.
