A new rule added to the Tokyo Comic Con website has banned men from cosplaying as women characters at the popular convention. Anime News Network has reported that the cosplay subgenre known as crossplaying will not be permitted at the massive show, which is comparable in size to San Diego's Comic-Con International. It should be noted that the San Diego show permits crossplaying.

As translated by Kotaku, the con's official website states that it is "prohibited" for men to wear women's clothing, specifically using the Japanese word "jyosou" -- which means "wearing female clothing" and is used almost specifically to refer to men wearing women's clothing. Other restrictions include a ban on realistic military costumes, excessive skin exposure and transparent outfits.

The ban doesn't go both ways, though, as women are still permitted to crossplay as men. ANN points out that this rule is "surprisingly common" in Japan. The news network quoted photographer Naoko Tachibana who says that events enact this ban because event planners don't want to attract "stereotypically unattractive men dressed as women."

Tokyo Comic Con was announced last December, and is put on by the same planners behind Steve Wozniak’s Silicon Valley Comic Con. Tokyo Comic Con takes place later this year from December 3 to 4.