Ninjas and Samurai

• A ninja costume only requires black clothing and black fabric. A sash or a toy sword adds individuality and color.
  
  You can make a samurai costume out of silk clothes and painted cardboard armor. Adding a creative helmet or house symbol on the armor will make the costume stand out in a crowd.
  
  

Kung Fu Heroes

• Chinese martial artists are recognizable characters. To create a Bruce Lee costume, you need just a pair of toy nunchucks, a black wig and a yellow track suit. The historically accurate kung fu outfits found in movies like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" are excellent places to look for inspiration. Footwear may be difficult to find, but a brightly colored cloth wrapped tightly around a pair of house slippers makes an acceptable stand-in. Jewelry and accessories are easy to create and make the costume more interesting.
  
  

Religious Figures

• To create a costume of a Buddhist monk, wear a simple, dark-colored bathrobe cinched closed with a rope combined with a pair of sandals. Hindi holy men from India often wear colorful and intricate costumes that the creative costumer can design. The Taoist monks of China wear colorful outfits with distinctive jewelry and accompaniments that make them recognizable and interesting.
  
  

Japanese Pop Culture

• Japanese animation and film is rife with colorful and distinctive images that translate well into costume ideas. Harajuku outfits can be assembled from bright pieces of mismatched clothing to create a cyber-goth-pop look that's uniquely Asian. Anime characters, like those in "Street Fighter" or "Sailor Moon," are popular costumes that can be made at home or purchased from many costume stores.
  
  A sadako costume, the woman from the Japanese horror film "The Ring," is a simple example of a costume from Asian media, requiring only a long, black wig and a white gown to create.