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)

The Lumix GX1 single lens reflex (SLR) camera with 14-42 mm powerzoom lens is displayed at the Panasonic booth at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 10, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new camera comes with an external viewfinder and flash and an ISO up to 12,800. The camera as shown sells for USD 949; the camera body alone is USD 799. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Jessie Diggins celebrates during a venue ceremony after winning the bronze medal in the women's sprint free cross-country skiing competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, February 8, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo)

Ukraine's Olga Polyuk falls while competing in the freestyle skiing women's aerials qualification during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Genting Snow Park A & M Stadium in Zhangjiakou on February 14, 2022. (Photo by Marco Bertorello/AFP Photo)

Police detain a demonstrator during an action against Russia's attack on Ukraine in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine resumed on Wednesday, with people taking to the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg and other Russian towns despite mass arrests. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A woman holds her dog after arriving from Russian-occupied territory at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, in Ukraine, on May 8, 2022. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

Riot police wear face masks, as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, allow a women to cross a cordon after a protest by pro-democracy demonstrators at a shopping mall in Hong Kong on May 9, 2020. (Photo by Isaac Lawrence/AFP Photo)