Japan's Manga and Anime culture have been influencing various people worldwide. They were not satisfied by just "reading" and "watching" but instead wanted to "be the characters and act as them". As a result, the Cosplay culture was born. The World Cosplay Summit began in 2003 in Nagoya Japan to create a new sense of international friendship with cosplayers from all over the world. Year after year, the number of participating countries has been increasing. In 2012, the number grew to 20 countries. Now, many cosplayers from around the world aim to get to the Cosplay Holy Land; namely Nagoya, Japan. The World Cosplay Championship is where representatives from each country display their best performances on stage to determine the grand champion. The Championship doesn't just judge the quality of participants' costumes, but also the art direction and overall performance. It's the ultimate world championship of cosplay.