Aggressive photographers swarm cosplaying trio during Comiket for upskirt photos

Cosplay photographers in Japan had their reputations dragged through the mud last year, after a couple of black sheep made headlines in August for surrounding a cosplayer with the intention of taking some upskirt photos.

Unfortunately, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Netizens around the world were filled with disgust after yet another incident involving, you guessed it, more aggressive swarming by voyeuristic photographers surfaced online.

Last weekend saw the winter iteration of Comiket, Tokyo's most prominent biannual cosplay and doujinshi (self-published manga) event, where three female cosplayers found themselves in the middle of some very unwelcome attention.

The three were surrounded by a wall of male photographers, initially a fair distance away. However, when the photographers were allowed to tighten the circle in order to get a little closer, the men took that as a cue to completely close the distance between them.

[embed]https://twitter.com/chonachonawill2/status/1211615046817599488[/embed]

In a video posted by one of the cosplayers, Matsuoka Nana, on Dec 30, almost all of the men could be seen charging forward with their cameras angled low and pointed up their skirts.

Despite their audible screams of, "Please wait!", the men paid no heed at all.

Though the cosplayers could also be heard laughing in the video, in a follow-up tweet, Matsuoka explained that at that moment, there was nothing they were able to do except to nervously laugh.

[embed]https://twitter.com/chonachonawill2/status/1211664833893920769[/embed]

She wrote: "The people around us were saying 'scary, scary!' but I was the most scared."

Thankfully, security staff members were quick to react and managed to pull the three away without them being injured or touched by the mob.

Needless to say, the actions of the photographers drew ire from international and local netizens alike, all of whom took to Twitter to condemn them, comparing them to the likes of "dirt" and "Japan's illness".

[embed]https://twitter.com/Lithium_Kigen/status/1211847611994361856[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/Chiether/status/1211871514905083904[/embed]

It called into question how other cosplayers weren't given as much protection while others such as top cosplayer, Enako, had enough staff to be able to maintain a safe distance from a huge throng of photographers.

[embed]https://twitter.com/nenefive/status/1211519962747064322[/embed]

rainercheung@asiaone.com