While I attended the recent Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles this past weekend, there was a certain group of friends that I was looking for. Sure, I wanted to see some friends from Top Cow, Aspen, deviantArt and other groups - but this particular group I wanted to see because of what they had been doing all year long. Do you all remember the massive earthquake/tsunami disaster that hit Japan on March 11 earlier in 2011? Of course you do. How could you not? The combined disaster resulted in more than 25,000 casualties including more than 15,000 fatalities and dominated the international news shows for weeks. And it was the cause of the second worst nuclear disaster in history at several of Japan's nuclear pwoer plants, second only to that of Chernobyl. It is an event that is still plaguing some areas of Japan; some areas will remain uninhabiatble for years to come. Well, this group of friends went out and did something about it.

This group of friends, and their love of the Japanese culture, decided that they were going to do more than just talk and bring awareness to the plight of those affected by the disasters - they were going to take action to help the people of Japan. Together, they formed Cosplay for a Cause and dedicated themselves, and their unique talents, to put together a calendar that they would sell online and at events to benefit the Japanese Red Cross Society in bringing monetary relief to the people in most need. These cosplayers, photographers and group of artist donated their time to put together this amazing calendar that would go on sale. Having read about them being at Comikaze, I set out to look for them on my downtime from covering the event and was really glad that I found them.

As soon as I approached the booth of Yaya Han, I immediately recognized my buddy, Riddle, and went to greet her. It was because of her and her Twitter page that I knew they were going to be in town, and it had been a while since I had seen her in person. Riddle is just one of 15 women who would participate in the creation of the calendar, and I was happy to see her and see her representing the charity at the expo. I had made a promise to myself that despite all that I had donated before to the disater relief effort, I wanted to support these friends of mine in their endeavor to help the people affected as well. Purchasing a calendar for myself, I asked my friends Riddle and Yaya to sign it for me. How could I not, these women are celebrities in the cosplay world and well deserved of that status.

Aside from my friends Yaya Han and Riddle, other friends of mine who participated in the creation of the Cosplay for a Cause calendar include Vampy Bit Me and Meagan Marie, who were not at the expo, but I know I will run into them at other events down the line. Other beautiful cosplayers who are featured on the calendar are Yukilefay, Ryoko Demon, Rei, Ginny McQueen, Francesca Dani, God Save The Queen Fashion, Pixelette, Marie Claude Bourbonnais, Alodia Gosiengfiao, Lindze, Jenny Barclay, Cvy, Kanasaiii and Zan. If you know anything about cosplay, you know that these women are amongst the elite in the field. To have these women get together for such a wonderful cause, that is something really special.

I implore you all to at least look at the official website for Cosplay for a Cause or their official Facebook page and think about donating to this wonderful endeavor. It may be almost a year past the massive disasters, but there are still people who need a lot of help. These women put together a lot of time and effort to do this special project to help people they don’t even know, but this is done as more than just a way to show appreciation to a culture that helped define the lifestyle they enjoy - we all know cosplay is mainly inspired by the fanatic Japanese fans - but they are doing this to show that they, and their fans, genuinely care about our fellow human beings in need.