Cosplaying on a Budget in Japan

Have you yearned to add spice to your ordinary life? Just like adding some chill flakes to your usual pasta recipe.

Hasn’t such a thought aroused a feeling within yourself to want more? Don’t you want to make your inner desire to be someone else, in the far east where no one knows you, come true?

The reason for cosplaying is different depending on the person. Or rather, depending on each occasion. I’ve tried many cosplays before. Still, I had individual reasons for that. Additionally, how much you can/want to spend differs from time to time.

Originally, cosplay started in the US in the 1960s among the Star Wars or Star Trek fans.1 It mingled with Japanese anime culture and spread through reimportation. Nowadays there are many cosplay festivals held all over the world. Cosplay has become tied with the culture for comic, anime or game events. Going beyond just a hobby, cosplayers even became a profession too!

Actually, the Japanese word “cosplay” is a shortened form of “costume play” which connotes a slight sexual meaning as “play” usually refers to bedroom activities. Of course the word mostly used in a child friendly meaning nowadays.

According to some studies, people who enjoy wearing cosplay (cosplayers) carry an inclination to want to be someone unlike their usual selves and people who are attracted to cosplayers fancy the unusual situation.2 In fact, when I see myself in cosplay, an indescribable happy feeling goes through my body. 

If “unusual” is what you like about cosplay, you probably won’t wear the same one repeatedly. It’s said the average price for cosplay is 8,000 JPY ($50). How did you feel seeing the price? Isn’t it a bit too much? I mean, if you are casual cosplayers, the cheaper, the better, right? And you don’t want to buy a dud or get scammed, do you?

I enjoy wearing cosplays from time to time so from those experiences, I can give 3 options for shops that you can depend on. Two of them have online options, the other is a physical only shop. They are good ones yet they have their own particularities. I rated them out of 5 in 3 criteria; price, quality and convenience. So here’s how you can have fun without spending a lot of money on cosplay.

Buying Cosplay Sets

The best and easiest way to get into cosplaying is to buy a set that’s already designed for you. Most of the cosplays I’ve done were complete sets I purchased. I recommend this option if you are visiting Japan or staying short term as a pre-made outfit will be easier to bring back.

1. Don Quijote: A discount general goods chain

A picture of Donpen the Don Quijote blue penguin mascot
Donpen the Don Quijote mascot

Price: 2/5

The average is between 3000 yen to 6000 yen ($22~$43)

Some of Don Quijotes have separate cash registers for duty free sales. You might have to make queues longer than non-duty free cashiers. So don’t forget your passport if you’re visiting.

Quality: 3/5

Some of them are so thin or short that you need an underskirt to prevent “accidents”. They only have a few size ranges. If you are a lot taller than the average Japanese height, it would be hard to find your size (I’m 162cm).

Average Male Height172 cm (5 ft 712 in)
Average Female Height158 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Average Japanese height according to the OECD

Convenience: 5/5

You don’t need to wait for the products to be delivered. You don’t get disappointed when the picture and the actual product is different as you can take a look with your eyes.

Hazu in a Magikarp hat raising her eyebrows with a smirk in an Instagram announcement promoting her stream recording.
Magikarp hat IG story

One of the exceptional things about Don Quijote is they have silly cosplays too! I once got a Magikarp cosplay. (only the head, not the full body.) I’ve also seen local headgear. Where I’m from, Osaka, for example, is known for some food like Takoyaki (Octopus ball), Fugu chiri (Puffer fish hot pot) etc. You can find headgears that are shaped like them! Or, if you want to be funny, there’s bold head headgear or cosplay of a ballerina with a swan head sticking on your crotch.

While you’re there, you can find Pokémon jumpsuits that can be your pajamas as they are warm, comfy and soft.

2. BODYLINE: an online shop specialized in cosplay

The Bodyline cosplay shop's logo

Price: 4/5

The average is between 1000 yen to 3500 yen ($7~$22). Frequently they have 20% off sales. If you are really lucky, you can get some clearance sets or props and accessories for $1. Perfect if you wanna cosplay on a budget.

Quality: 5/5

Since the shop is for cosplayers, their quality is high. Clothes are stitched neatly and your underwear is not seen through so no worries for “accidents”.

Convenience: 3/5

You have to wait for about 3-5 days to receive it if you are in Japan. They accept PayPal, credit cards or deferred payments.

When I walk around outside with a cosplay on, it’s always one ordered from BODYLINE because the quality is good enough to not get arrested as an exhibitionist. Not only cosplay, they also have gothic or lolita-styled outfits too. The unfortunate thing is, due to copyright they don’t usually have anime or game characters’ cosplay.

Hazu in a Babymetal cosplay posing for a photographer during a livestream.
$1 Babymetal cosplay

I tried $1 cosplay from them before. To be honest, my expectations were pretty low. How can the quality be high at $1? However, when the package arrived, I said the same thing with a different tone. “How can this quality be high!” Surprisingly, all the products were so good. I got a BabyMetal collab dress and a Bunny hat whose ears move when you press some parts. They are not fragile so I can still wear them today.

3. SHEIN: Chinese fast fashion

Shein's logo

Price: 4/5

The average is between 2000 yen to 3000 yen ($13~$20). Additionally, there’s always some coupon that gives you about a 15% discount. Big discount coupons are always limited so if you don’t want to miss it, you should subscribe to their email letter.

Quality: 3/5

It’s like a lottery. Sometimes products are too short or too thin to wear, but you can check other customers’ reviews. Finding your size is super easy thanks to that.

Convenience 2/5

They accept many methods of payment. However, it takes 1-3 weeks to receive the package. They do have a tracking service that tells you what stage your package is on.

Additional Points

SHEIN is the most famous one of the three shops I mentioned. They have a wide range of items. One big good feature is as it’s a global company, you can get your cosplay before coming to Japan. Moreover, they have a tremendously wide range of selections. I normally use this website to buy clothes or shoes or makeup stuff. Apart from that, I’ve gotten cosplay once from them. I could find some unique designs that other places didn’t have. Even though some looked like underwear a bit, I’m still satisfied considering the price and the uniqueness. Besides that, they have a tracking system that you can see where your order is proceeding.

I’ve used BODYLINE the most as I wear cosplays outdoors while streaming. They used to have physical shops in Osaka but not anymore. If you just wear them at home or with some intimate friends, then I recommend SHEIN. You can order your cosplays together with other items too so you don’t have to feel shy. No one will find it out.  If you have an impulsive urge to wear one, Don Quijote is going to be the one. I recommend that you go there with your friends as well because you can have fun there just looking around the shop. They have a large number of kinds of things for instance local snacks, cosmetics, suitcase, clothes, electric appliances. And they have adult toys too!

Please note: If you are going to buy your cosplays for a convention, try to order them in advance because it’s common for the shops to be overwhelmed with orders.

Editor’s note

We at Fuji Daily don’t want to promote Shein clothing due to their toxic lead content, forced labor and tax evasion. However, this was the honest opinion and recommendation of the author (Hazunats) at the time therefore we don’t want to censor it nor do we intend on telling you what to do with your money.

DIY Cosplay modifications

Sometimes the affordable Cosplays available are too generic or missing a piece you want to add. What to do? Fix it yourself!

Both amateur and professional cosplayers often have to adjust things a bit because of body proportions or content accuracy so you end up trying your hand at arts & crafts.

100 Yen shops

The best place to go for material to make modifications is the 100 yen shop. In Japan, you can find them everywhere but the main stores you’ll see are Daiso or Seria.

They are great places to cut, draw or add something to your costume and fix wardrobe malfunctions. But if you want to build your own set, you will need more material than a Daiso can provide.

Home hardware stores

I know it’s a bit unusual to suggest a handyman store for making cosplays. But when you need to add wood, foam or Styrofoam pieces to a costume, these stores are the best places to get durable materials and the tools to cut them into pieces.

This is an advanced commitment to cosplaying so the price ranges and quality depend completely on your skill and vision.

Remember to have fun!

Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, “Trust your heart rather than your head.” Maybe you feel shy, maybe the cosplay looks too ridiculous, maybe you are making a drunken decision but believe me, you will enjoy the experience and you will make unforgettable memories. So enjoy the feeling of spicing up yourself wisely without making your wallet cry.

It’s ok if everything doesn’t come out perfect. In fact it can lead to funny stories.

FAQ

How much should a cosplay cost?

Depending on how custom and convenient you want to go, it can get pretty expensive but a decent pre-made cosplay should be $25 to $85 with sets on sale being in the $8 to $15 range.

How much does a full cosplay cost?

A full cosplay (assuming you mean a custom outfit that’s as accurate as possible) can easily cost upwards of $350 but the specific number depends on how complex the character’s outfit is.

Why is cosplaying so expensive?

It’s expensive because character artists don’t have to consider materials, stitching and mobility when they draw their characters. So to make an outfit look accurate that fits and you can move in require a lot of stitch lines that normal clothes don’t.

  1. https://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/38683/files/27804 ↩︎
  2. https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/6424710/ ↩︎
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