Hard core lolita, 60 year old men dressed up as pandas, complete with adult diapers worn on the outside. Sea creatures dyed vibrant colors. Welcome to Creators Market, Nagoya 2012.

A couple of notes on the photos. Yes, that is a man dressed up as a panda in diapers. Ditto on the man in a chimney sweep costume with his Victorian moll. Apologies on the quality.

I spent the day at an enormous convention called Creators Market. Here is a video, not by me, from the event last year, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7-OAKTGB98

Notes on exhibiting.

There are a lot of people coming to buy. The line was long all day long, long in this case meaning 5 or 6 abreast, more than 100 meters. Everyone has to pay to enter so those who come seem to be highly motivated to buy.

If you are helping in-load you will have to pay 630 yen for a day pass. If you are helping someone in-load they will have gotten 2 free tickets for entry. These tickets are the same tickets everyone has to buy to enter, valid after 11:00 am. The in-load starts at about 6:30-7:00. Next time I will drive my wife to the venue, load her exhibit materials onto a cart, and then return at 11:00 and use the tickets to enter. You can get a hand stamp after you enter on a regular ticket so you can go buy food. There is only one convenience store withing walking distance with very regular onigiri.

I think if you sell anything ‘regular’ your sales will be normal, normal means you may cover expenses. If you sell anything ‘cute’ in the sense of cosplay cute you will sell well. The other things that seemed to be selling were Goth items, cosplay booths, dark and nihilistic items also seemed to be in fashion.

Here is a video of the in-loading, helpful to those who might be thinking of exhibiting.