The World Cosplay Summit !?

The World Cosplay Summit 2012 is coming.

The "World Cosplay Summit" was created to promote international exchange through the Japanese youth culture of manga and anime.

The free and dynamic nature of manga was instrumental in the birth of cosplay. Nowadays youth from around the world find this as a common language and a dynamic new form of global interaction. The World Cosplay Summit began in Osu, Nagoya and has grown to include 17 countries(this year 20 countries) from around the world. If you count audience and participants at each preliminary event, the number of people involved is now in the 100s of thousands.

For youth who have discovered Japan through manga and experienced Japanese culture through the medium of the World Cosplay Summit, we endeavor to continue the development of this new form of international exchange.
 - From World Csplay Summit Official Site

Cospaly is not just "The Big Bang Theory". We have the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan. Manga(Japanese comic book) and Anime(Japanese Animation) are new Japanese sub culture those days. And the Japanese Manga & Anime cosplay is a world phenomenon!

Actually Summit has a Cosplay championship!!

The World Cosplay championship begun in 2005 and is designed to determine a Grand Champion through stage performances by representative teams from each participating country. The championship is graded on the finish of the costume design and the teams performance on stage. Grand Champions from previous years are as follows:
2005: Italy
2006: Brazil
2007: France
2008: Brazil
2009: Japan
2010: Italy
2011: Brazil
- From World Cosplay Summit Official Site

What's wrong with America!! I thought you guys are the king of cosplay!! ha ha ha  : )

I actually ran into Cosplay Summit attendants once in there. Really interesting. People were happy and seemed like they loved Japanese culture. So, I realised that it was really good cultural exchange.

If you are interested check the web.

World Cosplay Summit 2012
*This web doesn't have English....

World Cosplay Summit 2011
*This one has several languages.

Official Photos  

It's a another interesting sub culture even for me. ; )

 

Shikon(Purple Gromwell root) Soap - Japanese new beauty trend

Shikon is a Purple Gromwell /Lithospermum erythrorhizon root in Japanese.

It has been cultivated in Japan around 1300 years for its root, which can be used for herbal medicine and to make dyes.

Shikon is a one of Japanese traditional crude medicine. It has been used for many centuries due to their extraordinary healing and anti-inflammatory, antiseptic properties and is used for soothing and healing skin wounds, also as a remedy for certain digestive disorders.

Shikon(Purple Gromwell root) suddenly became a big boom  in Japan. Such as Shikon lotion, Shikon Soap, Shikon cream... I read that midnight shopping channel on TV had picked up the Shikon merchandise one night triggered the big boom.

Shikon has been shown healing of wounds,burns, bruises, and cuts, as well as the minor infections they cause. And it used in tinctures, ointments for remains healthy skin.

Many my Japanese friends says using it to heal scars and improve skin tone.

So, I decided to make Shikon Soap. I ordered Shikon from Japan.

Infused with pure olive oil. You can see the oil became purplish red color.

This is the photo before I mixed with lye. Very beautiful color! : ) Looks like a juice. ha ha ha

After mixed with lye. Changed the color! fascinating! Gray purple.

This is the trace stage color. Changed the color again. Blue gray.

The process after mixed with lye was the same. cut and cured and done.

The soap color is like gray purple. 

This soap is under Wa series soap category. But it is actually Facial soap. It doesn't have strong scent.
You can use as body soap as well.

Handmade Shikon Soap is available at my Etsy store now!!
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M Naturalz