GM, COT❣️ Yuzunoko here.
When you've been allowed to take someone's cosplay photo, do you check with them again before you post it on social media?
Reading the official rules of big cosplay events side by side, "Can I take this photo?" and "Can I post it?" are written up as two separate things.
I went through the official pages of Comic Market (Comiket, Japan's biggest doujinshi market), the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fest (Ikeharo for short) and acosta! (a cosplay event held at Ikebukuro's Sunshine City and elsewhere), plus guidance from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Ministry of Justice, and summed up what to check before you shoot and before you post.
Here's the flow of this article as a diagram.
Consent before shooting is the baseline at every event
The Comic Market Preparatory Committee's cosplay photography page says that when the person you're photographing can be identified, "please be sure to get their permission before shooting or publishing." Shooting without permission, capturing other participants in a way that identifies them, shooting in a way the people around you can't tell you're taking photos, and covert shooting and publishing it are all banned.
Ikeharo's participation rules say, "Photography must be done with the agreement of both the subject and the photographer." acosta!'s terms of participation also say, "Photography is only allowed by mutual agreement," and ask both sides to check each other's passes when doing a proper shoot.
Ikeharo and acosta! also ask that when members of the public passing by ask for a photo, you help out with something like a souvenir snap.
From the subject's side, the Comiket page states plainly, "It's fine to say no to photos."
It's reassuring that the organizers themselves say you can say no (that's the line I want to remember most when the mood makes it hard to turn someone down).
How crowding around someone and low angles are written up
The Comiket page lists things some people may not like, and asks you to be careful not to bother the subject or the people around you.
- Photographing one person for a long time
- Many photographers surrounding one person
- Shooting from an extremely low angle
- Close-ups of the chest, buttocks or private areas
- Posting photos online or in magazines without asking
Sorting out a crowd of photographers surrounding one cosplayer, or a line, is apparently meant to be done by cosplayers and photographers working together, as a rule.
It also explains that unless there's a danger in terms of disaster prevention or safety, staff want to avoid forcibly breaking things up as much as possible.
At Ikeharo and acosta!, "shooting from excessively low angles" is on the list of banned acts.
Long shoots or shoots that bother the people around you, shooting inside changing rooms and restrooms or in a way that shows their entrances, and adult shoots are also banned. Commercial use and for-profit use of photos taken at the event are banned under both sets of rules.
There are rules on gear, too. Comiket bans infrared cameras and special miniature cameras, and says reflectors, tripods and strobe stands may not be usable when it's crowded.
At Ikeharo, you can apparently use reflectors if they're handheld or built into the camera and don't take up much space.
Before you post, check again
On posting to social media, the three events word things a little differently.
Comiket, as mentioned above, asks for permission for both "shooting and publishing."
Ikeharo lists posting or publishing photos and videos without the subject's consent as banned, and acosta! lists uploading to networks without the subject's consent as banned.
acosta! says that you can post the photos and videos you took (ones for your own personal enjoyment, like vlogs), but that you deal with any trouble from posting on your own responsibility. Ikeharo also says the organizers and the venue aren't responsible for trouble caused by social media posts.
So even if you got an OK when you took the photo, it's safest to check separately whether it's fine to post.
If you ask "Is it OK if I post this on social media?" at the same time as you ask to shoot, you won't be left unsure later.
It's worth checking the background too. All three sets of rules ask you to be careful about other participants and members of the public ending up in your shots. According to Ikeharo's participation rules, Ikeharo is held in public spaces, and people who don't know about cosplay come by too.
Where to turn if your photo is posted without permission
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Cybercrime Control Division's page of consultation cases explains that photos that let someone be identified "may infringe portrait rights."
And when someone else publishes photos or videos you took yourself (selfies, basically) without asking, "it could infringe copyright."
If you want something taken down, the page advises asking the provider or the site administrator.
The request is made by the person themselves or their legal representative, and if the administrator doesn't respond, you ask the provider to deal with it.
It also suggests considering contacting the Ministry of Justice Human Rights Bureau, and the Ministry of Justice page lists its online human rights consultation service, a guide to requesting removal, and an email template.
The Comiket page also mentions the so-called "Act on Punishment of Photographing Sexual Poses, etc.," which took effect on July 13, 2023.
It says that for people under 16, photographing sexual areas or underwear may itself be subject to regulation even with the person's permission, and asks anyone this applies to to check the law once.
This article can't judge how any individual case would turn out legally. If you're in trouble, talk to the contacts above or a professional.
About this article
I put this article together from the Comic Market Preparatory Committee's cosplay photography support page, the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fest's participation rules and official site, the acosta! (Ikebukuro Sunshine City) terms of participation, and guidance from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Ministry of Justice.
Ikeharo 2026 has been announced to run through November 1, including an evening program on October 30.
The participation rules page I checked was the version "as of September 18, 2026," and it also says it will be updated as things go. Before you take part, check the latest rules for each event on its official site.
What matters most is that both the person shooting and the person being shot feel good about the photo (cute costumes or cool ones, a quick "May I?" before the shutter is always the way to go❣️)
Quotes from Japanese sources are our own translations.
Translated from the Japanese original.
See you next time on COT❣️