The skills involved in making handmade figures of anime characters inspire a respect on par to that of the traditional arts. The craftsmanship, artistic sense and passion surrounding the hobby are qualities that attract people from around the world.

Garage kits for such figures and the finished figurines will be displayed and sold at Wonder Festival next weekend, which is the biggest event of its kind in Japan.

The event has been held twice a year since 1992 and last summer's Wonder Festival attracted more than 38,000 people, according to its organizer Kaiyodo, the Osaka-based maker of figures and models.

With vendors basically consisting of anime fans and independent craftspeople and sculptors selling kits and figurines of famous anime characters, you would think that copyright issues would be a problem. However, rights holders give the sellers a single-day license for the event after they apply for permission through Kaiyodo.

In addition to the anime figures, the organizers for the event say a few of the artists also create their own characters to be sold as figures and kits as well.