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Cosplay is a Japanese fan term for Costume Play; it's equivalent to the Western fan term Masquerade. In Japan cosplay covers pretty much the spread that convention masquerades in the West cover, from SF to fantasy, from medieval to military uniforms. It's basically a time for fans to dress up in their favourite garb or as their favourite character and have a bit of fun. There is a condition though; most fans insist that you not only play the character in dress, you also play the character's nature. In other words, whilst you're in costume, you must be the character, in thoughts, words and action.

Cosplaying in Western terms is as old as Western anime fandom. In the two or so decades that anime fandom has existed in the US fans have been dressing up as their favourite anime characters at SF conventions. It was appropriate, as anime fandom grew out of SF fandom that costuming was a part of that heritage. This heritage blossomed with the emergeance of anime conventions in the mid to late 80's. In 1990 Project A-kon, in Dallas, Texas, the first continuous anime convention featured a masquerade. The next year, AnimeCon 1991, due to fan pressure, conducted a masquerade that included inadvertently the Japanese Guests of Honour in the skit. It was so popular that it has become a staple of anime cons following ever since. Nowdays, it's inconceivable that a convention not run a masquerade.