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Tokyo's Comic Market Updates Rules on Cosplay Exposure

The organizers of Comic Market announced on Saturday that they are updating the rules on cosplay at the semiannual convention at the Tokyo Big Sight event center. Starting with Comic Market 80 (which runs from August 12 to August 14), the rule changes include a clause against costumes that expose more than one-third of the skin on the chest for female cosplayers. The Tokyo Sports newspaper characterizes this particular rule change as "a ban on exposed breasts," but Comic Market itself downplays it by indicating that the change makes the existing rules easier to understand.

Comic Market (also known as Comiket) is the largest convention for dōjin (self-published) works in the world, and it also attracts large gatherings of cosplayers and cosplay photographers. By comparison, the code of conduct for Anime Expo, the largest anime convention in North America, lists a rule against "failing to be fully and/or appropriately clothed, or wearing apparel or gesturing in a manner which is likely to provoke a disturbance or embroil others."