watch out for ninjas and catgirls - otakon 2006

starting tomorrow you may notice girls with pink hair and guys carrying 6-foot samurai swords around. no need for alarm, it's merely otakon 2006.

as for me it's not my thang, although i loved me some speed racer and ultraman in my day.

naw, we're going down to virginia for fun and frolic and getting stuck in beach traffic. anyways, back to otakon. what you might not know: the name of the convention is derived from the japanese word otaku, which in america refers to a fanboy (and increasingly, fangirl) who is obsessed with japanese manga culture. in japan, the hand can be used like a knife, oops, i mean, otaku refers mostly to basement-dwelling antisocial men who spend all day playing nintendo and worshipping fictional japanese popstars. so you see da connexion.

i have to admit that my favourite aspect of all this craziness is the cosplay that manifests itself as girls dressing up like cats. i'm sure this is the confluence of several japanese cultural things from cats being considered lucky to the japanese street fashion cult of women dressing like children. whatever. i just like catgirls.