耳边听人说起cosplay这个词好像有一段时间了，据说是跟日本漫画有关，还说是年轻人们喜欢的活动。那么这个cosplay到底是什么意思呢？

Cosplay (costume play) is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing¹ as characters from manga (comics), anime, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, Japanese movies, or Japanese pop music bands. However, in some circles, "cosplay" has been expanded to mean simply wearing a costume.

Cosplay（costume play，“角色扮演”一词的英文缩写形式）是日本的一种亚文化现象，主要的形式是参与者将自己打扮成漫画、动画或者视频游戏中的角色；有些不太常见的cosplay中人们也会将自己装扮成日本电视剧、电影或者流行乐队中的角色。不过，在某些领域，cosplay的概念已经被扩大，任何穿着剧服的行为都可以被称为是cosplay。

While having thrived in Japan for more than 20 years, the cosplay culture has just recently become popular in China, and the craze for cosplay is the latest trend hitting Hong Kong's teenagers, who are already immersed in a pervasive² culture of Japanese anime and gaming.

Cosplay在日本虽然已经兴盛了20多年，但在中国才刚刚兴起，深受日本动画和游戏影响香港的青少年是cosplay在中国的新近追捧者。