Apple stores in Japan were the first to sell the iPhone 5 anywhere outside of the United States.  Many Japanese, eager to be one of the first in the world to get their hands on Apple’s hottest new product, began lining up on Sunday, five days before Apple stores were scheduled to start selling the iPhone 5 on September 21.  The line in Ginza, a popular up-scale shopping district in Tokyo, stretched several city blocks.  In Nagoya, 400 people were waiting in line at noon on Friday, four hours after iPhone 5 sales had begun.

Apple store employees and those waiting in line at the Apple store in Ginza enthusiastically counted down from ten to announce the beginning of iPhone 5 sales.  One man even sprayed beer into the crowd.  Amidst all of the excitement of the iPhone 5 sales, two iPhone 5 cosplayers were seen in the crowd. 

The first, a man who crafted an iPhone 5 headpiece out of cardboard.

Clad in a skin-tight black body suit, white face paint complete with black mustache and uni-brow, and cardboard iPhone 5 hat with a curiously small screen, everyone would assume this man couldn’t wait to get his hands on the newest iPhone.  He even rode the train wearing his costume and waited in line on the night of September 20th.  Photographed and videotaped by several news crews from Japan and abroad, this iPhone 5 cosplayer has gained a lot of attention.  When the doors of Ginza’s Apple store finally opened to the hoards of iOS lovers, everyone was ready to get their hands on the prized Apple product they had been waiting for.  In the case of our iPhone head cosplayer, that prized Apple product was a 1500 yen (US $19) iTunes gift card.

Shocked Twitter users commented, “What the heck?!  You waited in line all night just to buy a stupid iTunes gift card?!” to which our happy iPhone-head replied, “Yes, I wanted one!”  All of the people waiting in line in front of the Apple store had bought an iPhone 5 except for the guy dressed as an iPhone 5. 

The second cosplayer seen waiting in line in Ginza had a slightly more subtle approach to iPhone cosplay (subtle compared to a guy in a full body suit and iPhone headpiece):

Cardboard box man is known as Yoppi and works for Japanese comedy website Omokoro.  He has also been seen cosplaying  as Tutankhamen in front of the Tutankhamen exhibit in Ueno Park.

We’re assuming that Yoppi had enough sense to actually buy an iPhone 5 after waiting around all night in front of the Apple store.  But what we’re really wishing for is iPhone-head to put the face hole at the top of his cardboard iPhone 5 and cover up some of his many bulges.

Source: ITmedia