Come take walk on the plain side.
For many, Halloween is a time to let our imaginations run wild and become something paranormal for a change. But for a certain growing segment of Japan’s population, it has become a time to transform into the ultra-normal.
Now is the season of “Jimi Halloween,” which means “Plain Halloween” in English, and is observed by dressing up not as ghosts and goblins but as clerks and husbands who deal with all-to-familiar trials and tribulations associated with daily life.
The event was created by the website Daily Portal Z and used to be an annual live event. However, with recent pandemic complications, Jimi-Halloween has expanded to the online realm as well.
Speaking of which, this year’s entries were largely dominated by relatable predicaments that have come with the new normal.
▼ “Person trying to remove their mask but pulling off their glasses too.”
▼ “Office worker who drank a coffee while forgetting they’re wearing a mask.”
▼ “Person who has no problem entering Hikarie [shopping center] because their temperature is normal.”
▼ “Staff of an izakaya that was prohibited from selling alcohol.”
▼ “Person who mistakenly wore the wrong shoes to work because they haven’t gone to the office in a long time.”
Luckily, technology has come to the aid of recent restrictions, but those too weren’t without their own foibles:
▼ “Person swallowed by their Zoom background.”
▼ “Person who had just switched to the self-facing camera.”
▼ “Person tagged in a photo.”
▼ “Person going into the shade so they can see their smart watch.”
On the other hand, there was no shortage of timeless everyday characters that ring just as true today as they did back then.
▼ “Veteran cosmetologist who sees off customers until they are completely out of eye-shot.”
▼ “Person mistaking a plastic bag on the street for a kitten.”
▼ “Someone taking out the garbage in winter.”
▼ “A person who probably has a tattoo.”
▼ “Person drafted by the Lotte Marines who really wanted to sign with the Yomiuri Giants.”
▼ “Person who failed when opening their egg carton.”
▼ “Person who encountered a cockroach while trying to sleep at night.”
▼ “Person whose friends all went to the bathroom when it was their turn at karaoke.”
Making a jimi-Halloween costumes may seem easy, but it’s very hard to strike that right balance of interesting and ordinary.
For example, this guy’s costume may seem ordinary and has an ordinary caption, but is actually a parody of the guy who found that giant python in Yokohama earlier this year. It’s a funny costume, but probably qualifies more as a regular topical Halloween costume.
▼ “Person who found something they were looking for.”
Given the online component of this year’s events, entries will probably continue to trickle in throughout the weekend, but going by the online buzz this entry has been an especially big hit.
▼ “Neighbor of a suspect in a suspense drama telling the police they haven’t seen the person in three days.”
There are plenty more creatively uncreative costumes to be seen on Daily Portal Z and Twitter via the hashtag #地味ハロウィン, and you can also check out entries from previous year’s events right here. Enjoy, and we hope you all have a truly average Halloween!
Source: Twitter/#地味ハロウィン, Daily Portal Z
Top image: Pakutaso
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