The eighth annual Nipponbashi Street Festa stamped Osaka March 20, 2012 (Nipponbashi is Osaka’s geek district – much like Akihabara is for Tokyo). Cosplayers turned up in colourful outfits, dressing as characters from their favourite manga, anime, and video games. The street was closed to cars, and otaku flooded the streets, snapping pics, cosplaying, and hanging out.

Hirari Ikeda, a well-known Harajuku street fashion personality, on the street in Shibuya. (Photo by Tokyo Fashion)

Women practice yoga during a performance on a glass bridge at the Shiniuzhai National Geo-park in Pingjiang county, Hunan province, China, November 5, 2015. About hundred yoga fans put on the show to promote the concept of green life and the idea of harmony between human and nature on Thursday, according to local media. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A candle burns during a vigil in Aotea Square to remember victims of the Paris attacks on November 14, 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand. According to reports, over 150 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings across Paris, including at a soccer game at the Stade de France and a concert at the Bataclan theater. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

A police officer removes a reveler from standing on a post as they guard and clear the street of revelers dressed in holiday themed costumes during SantaCon in New York Saturday, December 12, 2015. As thousands of Santa-suited merrymakers prepare to hit the city's streets and bars, organizers of the annual pub crawl say they're taking more steps than ever to deter naughty behavior. (Photo by Andres Kudacki/AP Photo)

An injured boy who is undergoing surgery, after he was injured in what activists said was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, rests inside a field hospital in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria December 5, 2015. Douma in Syria, an area controlled by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, has been shelled continuously for the past three years. The injured are taken to basements and shelters transformed into field hospitals run by medical staff who have stayed in the battered neighbourhood of Damascus. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A Hindu devotee girl stands after getting her tongue pierced with a metal rod during the Thaipusam festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, February 3, 2015. Thaipusam, which is celebrated in honor of Hindu god Lord Murugan, is an annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. (Photo by Joshua Paul/AP Photo)

A female Syrian soldier from the Republican Guard commando battalion drives a tank during clashes with rebels in the restive Jobar area, in eastern Damascus, on March 25, 2015. The female battalion, which was created nearly a year ago, consists of 800 female soldiers who are positioned in the suburbs of the Syrian capital where they monitor and secure the frontlines with snipers, rockets and machine guns. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP Photo)