/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

'Sup, /cgl/. I'm going to be doing foreign study in Japan from March 18th until about August 1st. I'm interested in going to as many cosplay conventions as I can within that time period, since I've always wanted to interact with the Japanese cosplay community a lot more from the few encounters I've had at American cons. I think I know most of the basic idiosyncrasies, like
>No wearing the cosplay to the convention
>Changing rooms required
>There may be a cosplaying fee
et cetera, but I guess I'm wondering if there's other less-known things I should be aware of and try to plan for/accommodate.
Also, suggestions for conventions would be great as well. I know AnimeJapan is happening for 4 days in late March, so if anyone's been there I'd really like some firsthand advice on how to get the most out of it. Other than that, most of the events I seem to be finding are right at the end of July and beginning of August (Summer WonFes, Jul. 27th; World Cosplay Summit, Jul. 28th-Aug. 5th, all the way down in Nagoya; Summer Comiket, Aug. 10-12). Does anyone know of any other conventions in between AnimeJapan and that big cluster at the end of the summer, or in lieu of that any other good places to go cosplay for fun and meet people?
And sorry for writing a book about this. Feel free to just talk about Japanese conventions in general too.