Managers at Universal Studios Japan are clutching their pearls at the risqué costumes that some patrons are wearing.
The coronavirus pandemic was almost the nail in Japan’s Halloween street cosplay coffin: the pandemic years saw the numbers of people gathering for street parties in crazy costumes (often bearing no relation to Halloween) drop dramatically.
Now the custom is returning and theme parks are also always popular places to visit in costumes, regardless of the season. But it seems that patrons at USJ in Osaka are taking things too far, emphasizing the sexy side of the Japanese Halloween cosplay party in their choice of costume.
In addition to the usual zombies and vampires, there are young ladies dressed in very skimpy clothes that would raise an eyebrow in most locations, but perhaps especially in a supposedly family-friendly theme park.
USJ is a particularly popular destination for cosplayers, since the park has a lot of affiliated franchises and also doesn’t prohibit costumes from non-affiliated franchises.
But the park has now issued a stern warning that visitors who dress in overly skimpy costumes face getting ejected from the park.
It seems that USJ doesn’t appreciate the revealing nature of the Halloween costumes that certain visitors are wearing, and pictures floating around on social media suggest that they are perhaps not overreacting. In many people’s eyes, these are more like maid-themed sexy lingerie items than costumes!
Aware that they were in danger of breaking not only the park’s rules but potentially the law against public indecency, some female visitors were reportedly arriving in normal wear, only to change into sexier apparel once they have got into the park.
As our past video and photo reports have shown, the gatherings in places like Shibuya were a way to see plenty of flesh, despite the chilly end-of-October temperatures, and for young people to hook up (and old men to take photos up girls’ skirts). The sexiness reached such an extent that it even inspired its own porn storyline.
Expect such antics to increase over the next week as we head toward Halloween and the preceding weekend.
