Nagoya’s governor shows up for work cosplaying as star of anime Sword Art Online【Photos】

When you’ve got a meeting with cosplayers from around the world on your schedule, a suit and tie just won’t due.

Every year, Japan’s Aichi Prefecture hosts the World Cosplay Summit, bringing together anime and video game costuming enthusiasts from around the globe. The event isn’t just a celebration, but a competition as well, with teams from various nations vying for the honor of being crowned the summit champions.

The event is a rare opportunity for often-overlooked Aichi to get some international attention, so it’s a big deal for the prefecture, as well as for governor Hideaki Omura. So with this year’s summit officially kicking off on July 28, Omura organized a meet-and-greet with the competitors so he could thank them in person for taking part in the festivities. But instead of wearing the drab suit and plain white dress shirt Japanese politicians are customarily seen in, he chose an outfit a little more appropriate for the occasion.

ライトノベル、オンラインゲーム、アニメとして、全世界で人気の「ソードアート・オンライン」の主人公「キリト」に扮しています。 https://t.co/oOUKPupPDi
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大村秀章 (@ohmura_hideaki) August 02, 2018

That’s Omura dressed as Kirito, the gamer/swordsman protagonist of anime and light novel sensation Sword Art Online. And no, this isn’t a snapshot that was leaked by paparazzi, but a photo Omura himself shared through his official Twitter account.

▼ Omura and this year’s World Cosplay Summit contestants

世界各国のコスプレイヤーの皆さんと。真ん中の「キリト」が、大村です‼️８月５日には、ドルフィンズアリーナで世界一のコスプレパフォーマーが決定します。皆さん、是非とも参加してください❗ https://t.co/exa2YgiMfr
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大村秀章 (@ohmura_hideaki) August 02, 2018

One fellow Sword Art Online fan decided to give the governor’s cosplay a digital upgrade by inserting Kirito’s girlfriend Asuna into the background…

@ohmura_hideaki [あれは敵だ！アスナは俺が守る！] https://t.co/jvBD7LJNit
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@やぎさわけんしん® (@o00o0o0oo0000o) August 02, 2018

…while another opted to replace the costume altogether by instead stamping Omura’s head onto Kirito’s anime body.

@ohmura_hideaki https://t.co/0jL40rwnDF
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松茸井戸水 (@e7WoeyWuUtemfgw) August 02, 2018

This isn’t the governor’s first time to dress up for the World Cosplay Summit, either, Last year, for example, he donned the uniform of Gintama’s Tohiro.

愛知県・大村秀章知事、映画でも話題の「銀魂」のコスプレを披露！ - ウオーカープラス dlvr.it/PbFwRn
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銀魂News (@Gintama_News) August 02, 2017

Other anime personas he’s taken on include Dragon Ball’s Goku, Detective Conan’s titular sleuth, and Space Battleship Yamato’s Dessler (a.k.a. Desslok).

河村たかし名古屋市長のコスプレが話題ですが、ここで大村秀章愛知県知事を見てみましょう http://t.co/Mou41z5ztV
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24DDHあわじ(旧アカ) (@militarynavykan) July 29, 2014

大村秀章愛知県知事のコスプレ、毎年楽しみにしてる https://t.co/bxUkx0hgNh
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うみのん (@um_hmwr) August 02, 2018

Omura isn’t the only high-profile civil servant who cosplays as part of the World Cosplay Summit, though. Takashi Kawamura, mayor of the summit’s host city, Nagoya, also cosplays each year. Though photographic evidence of this year’s outfit has been harder to track down, he’s visible in the top left photo of the collage below, dressed as One Piece’s Law for 2018.