Acosplayer and model, as well as a Tokyo Tourism Ambassador since 2023, Hakken—who prefers to be known only by their moniker—is an international star on the rise. With 3.7 million followers on Instagram, 1.5 million followers on Facebook and 988,000 followers on X (Twitter), they are an intriguing force. They use their 14 years’ experience of portraying fictional characters from anime, manga and video games to bring various ikémen (cool men) into reality. “The characters that I portray have traits that I like, but it’s not always something that I want for myself as much as it is something that I admire or find attractive,” the 2023 Gen.T honouree explains.
Cosplaying is an innovative craft focused not only on accurately recreating the visual appearance of a character, but also embodying the personality and carriage of said figure. Like a method actor, Hakken studiously reviews source material until they fully inhabit a role, understanding the emotional state as much as the physical gestures of a specific persona. Some of Hakken’s most impressive cosplays include Gojo Satoru of Jujutsu Kaisen, Zhongli of Genshin Impact, Uchiha Itachi from Naruto and Bruno Bucciarati of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
“The highest praise is when people say I brought the character to life, because that’s the point of the entire thing. When people tell me they’re inspired by my work—[to present] themselves the way they want to—that is one of the best compliments I could hear,” Hakken says.
Despite their talent for emulating suave, stoic characters, Hakken is highly affable. “I don’t create a ‘Hakken’ persona. When I meet new people, there’s no performance. I don’t curate my traits and think about what kind of person I am going to be; I am just being myself,” the self-described extrovert explains.
The child of a designer and tailor, Hakken picked up basic needlework from their mother, which enabled them to make outfits. At age 12, they recreated Uchiha Itachi’s iconic Akatsuki cloak through an amalgamation of sewing and double-sided tape.
“My first costume was pretty bad,” Hakken admits. “The one you see on my Instagram today is my redemption arc.” They turned their hobby into a full-time career in 2016, after graduating from high school. Today, their loving mother remains a core member of their support squad, enthusiastically helping to conceptualise, create and alter costumes when needed—no tape required.
Hakken has also developed impressive make-up and styling skills since starting their career, but that doesn’t mean they can take on any character. “Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 is one example,” Hakken says, referring to the main antagonist of the popular Square Enix game, known for his long silver hair and black coat with metallic pauldrons.
“There is a lot of preparation that goes into a character like that: the hair, the costume details, even his muscles—I would have to work out a lot. If there’s one thing I want to do, it’s to perfect the cosplay and do the character justice. I think it’s a form of respect for the character and myself.”
Hakken acknowledges they were fortunate to discover another passion from their passion after a first trip to Venice; they visited in 2019 to portray Bruno Bucciarati from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. “My love of travelling started with me trying to look for locations for photo shoots, but then I fell in love with going to beautiful places,” Hakken explains. They have also travelled to France to capture the essence of Howl Pendragon from Howl’s Moving Castle and Rohan Kishibe, also from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
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