Believe it or, Japan, a country where even the politicians cosplay, is home to some people who don’t like dressing up. As popular as Halloween gets over there, some adults are just too timid to participate in dressing up as their favorite ghost or ghoul, and would much rather find a low-effort costume with which to appease their peers. That’s where jimi Halloween comes in.
Back in 2014, some folks at media group Daily Portal Z started a new wave in Halloween subculture with jimi Halloween—a.k.a. mundane/low-key Halloween—a costumed event for adults who “kind of wanted to participate in the festivities of Halloween, but were too embarrassed to go all out in witch or zombie costumes.” These are simple costumes for adults to celebrate the boring and average moments in life.
Take, for instance, this woman who dressed as someone who forgot to take out her trash.
Or these two, who dressed as a couple who had an argument at Disneyland and are now feeling awkward with each other.
Or this TSA agent.
Each year, Daily Portal Z holds a jimi Halloween event in which patrons celebrate the mundane by pretending to be very normal with each other and assuming the roles at presumably boring jobs. The Daily Portal Z’s Twitter account has been blasting out photos from the event all weekend, while the event’s hashtag—#地味ハロウィン—is full of other Japanese jimi Halloween participators.