Cosplay is short for costume play. The term was coined by anime producer Nobuyuki Takahashi in 1984 and describes both the practice of dressing up as film, television, book, or video game characters; especially one from the Japanese genres of manga and anime. The practice originated in Japan but has spread throughout the world. While cosplay is generally an innocent activity, a subset of cosplay culture involves participants portraying sexually attractive characters in revealing costumes and appearing in hardcore porn videos.