These magnets of curious stares are "cosplayers" (short for costume players), enthusiasts of a hobby that originated from, arguably the eighth wonder of the world - Harajuku in Tokyo, Japan.

"A cosplayer is a person who dresses up like his or her favourite J-Rock band member," said Pink Spida [this isn't her real name], a co-organiser of most J-Rock cosplay events here.

Such a person, added the 17-year-old Visual Communications student at Temasek Polytechnic, who is really Shirley Koh, who goes by that unique moniker, "is a physical representation of the music itself".

So great is the fervour of cosplayers that Len, the leader of top Japanese cosplay team, Cool n Glamourous, created a website dedicated to cosplaying which has over an incredible two million hits! Initially an underground cosplay website, the protective cosplayer had her URL changed three times just to avoid hordes of fans who would even stalk them out at Harajuku. [Note: Four out of five of Cool n Glamourous' members live in Tokyo.]

A follower of popular Japanese visual rock band, PIERROT, she hopes her love can inspire others to feel "love towards Pierrot".

J-Rock cosplaying originated in the late 80s when many young Japanese rock stars tried to follow in the footsteps of Western rock bands like Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and The Smashing Pumpkins - and their fans followed suit. These young Japanese rock star wannabes incorporated music and dressing styles of the Western Rock bands with their own and created their own unique form of music and style which some also call Visual Japanese Rock.

Despite calls for creative expression, Singaporeans, not only do not seem to share the cosplaying enthusiasm, some are openly hostile.

Lee Yi You, 19, a Multimedia Engineering student at Singapore polytechinic feels that cosplayers resembles unearthly beings from the other dimension. She said that she cosplayers "look like ghosts" and she would "avoid one when she sees one". She also believes that cosplayers are associated with black magic and cults.

"The police ought to shoot them all," said Theresa Siow, a 51-year-old housewife, when she saw newspaper articles on cosplayers in Singapore.

With hatred fuelled by criticism and veiled insult from newspapers like The New Paper, which described cosplayers as "freakballs", it is no wonder a fight broke out between Malay skinheads and J-rock cosplayers during a recent Indies J-rock band's concert.

Various bands from Asia had gathered at the Youth Park on June 29 to perform a 6-hour gig, but when the most popular Indies J-rock band, Baroque, was performing, "a bunch of Malay skinheads started body-slamming the crowd of J-rock fans and cosplayers", said an avid J-rock fan who wanted to be only known as X'lest. X'lest said the police were called in after some of the cosplayers were physically assaulted by the other group, a high price to pay for a typical youth struggle to assert or find themselves. Dr.Roxana Waterson, a National University of Singapore associate professor, compared cosplaying to an identical phenomenon in America where "people who repeatedly went to see the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, dressed as their favorite characters in the movie." She believes that these youths just want to have fun and noted that personal "style" is a common way for young people to forge a sense of identity.

She added that style is "especially important for young people who haven't had time to define themselves through experience, career, etc. yet - so clothes and music are the most obvious ways to carve out an image for oneself."

Meanwhile, despite the setbacks, Pink Spida has confirmed that there will be many more cosplay event collaborations with FM 96.3 the international radio station that Singaporeans can expect to see in near future. A cosplay event has been scheduled for this December.



Uncovering the Cosplayer>>>

A: For me, it is a form of expression, to tell others that I'm a J-Rock fan and that I'm not afraid to show it. But mostly, I cosplay because it's fun and there's a big sense of accomplishment when I get positive comments on my costumes. Then I will know that I've done a great job.

Q: Do you ever think that dressing up like a cosplayer might be cult-like?

A: Just because we dress differently from the rest of the society doesn't mean that what we do is cult-ish. We don't have an appointed leader to tell us what to do and we do not worship the J-Rock culture or something like that.

Q: Have you ever had to run from the police?

A: No. What we do is perfectly legal and not against any law so I don't see any reason why we should [have to]. Although the security guards do keep an extra eye on us, we have yet to cause them any trouble.

Q: How does it feel to be associated with criminals or cult groups?

A: I feel insulted and disgusted by the fact that we are being associated with these categories of people just by the way we look. They do not understand us and do not know why we are doing this, so they have no right to judge us.

Q: Do you have any bad experiences to share?

A: When we walk down the streets in our costumes, we sometimes get ugly comments, like being called "freaks", "ghosts", "monsters", etc. We'll just walk away and pretend that we didn't hear anything so as to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.

Q: What was your reaction to The New Paper article on cosplayers?

Personally, I'm disappointed at the reporter because I didn't think that her report was written on a neutral stand. I felt that the reporter was trying to insult us in the most indirect way and put us under bad light. The caption for each photo was not only unpleasant but also completely unnecessary to begin with.

Q: What are the opinions of the other cosplayers concerning The New Paper's article?

A: Many didn't like what they read, whereas others expected the article to turn out this way. This was not the first article written on cosplay, but there was no improvement to the articles at all. It made the cosplayers look like parading freaks.

Q: Do cosplayers stage concerts? If so, what are the concert turnouts like?

A: Cosplayers do not do concerts. We are merely supporters for other bands if they are performing. In that sort of events, cosplayers are very well received.