Japan’s Jimi ‘Mundane’ Halloween Costumes of 2020

In 2014, a subculture emerged in Japan called jimi halloween (地味ハロウィン), or “mundane Halloween.” It was started by a group of adults at Daily Portal Z who “kind of wanted to participate in the festivities of Halloween, but were too embarrassed to go all out in witch or zombie costumes.” So instead of the flashy and flamboyant costumes they had been seeing gain popularity in Japan, they decided to dress up in mundane, everyday costumes. The type of costumes that you have to explain to people and then they say, ooooh I get it.

Despite the pandemic, organizers were still able to hold the event this year, both in-person and virtually. Here are some notable mundane Halloween costumes from this year’s event.

a zookeeper in charge of the pandas (photo courtesy @chica_1107)

an office worker whose lanyard name card has flipped over (photo courtesy @dailyportalz)

a guy who can definitely tell the difference between good and bad coffee (photo courtesy @dailyportalz)

a guy who can no longer wear his favorite shirt because of the anime Kimetsu no Yaiba (“Demon Slayer”) (photo courtesy @dailyportalz)

a businessman who cut himself shaving but can luckily hide it with his mask (photo courtesy @dailyportalz)

an interviewer who’s a little too extra with the pens (photo courtesy @fumi23_3)

a woman who’s regretting telling the cashier that she doesn’t need a bag (photo courtesy @iwanttobejinrui)

an overworked woman doing last-minute assignments for a terrible company on the train platform (photo courtesy @memedsn)

that guy who’s definitely the grill master at a large BBQ (photo courtesy @dailyportalz)

that weird thing that sometimes happens with zoom meeting backgrounds (photo courtesy @purin_hayasaka)

that bystander in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (photo courtesy @dailyportalz)

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