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Photo: peyj_turner, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
One of the largest and longest-running anime conventions in the United States. Even if you are not into anime, you'll get to see throngs of Japanese cartoon-inspired costumed attendees (cosplayers) take over the Convention Center during the convention. You need to buy an admission badge to enter the convention, but you can just stand on the street and ogle the costumes for free. The best times for this are Thursday evening (a long line often forms for picking up badges) and Saturday, the day when the most people are in costume.
Otakon is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. From 1994 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The convention focuses on East Asian popular culture and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku.
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