Spoon & Tamago

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Japan’s Jimi ‘Mundane’ Halloween Costumes of 2024

Happy Jimi Halloween to everyone who celebrates. It’s that wonderful time of year when our favorite Japanese festival, Jimi Halloween, is on full display. Mundane Halloween, as we coined it back in 2018, is when people dress up in costumes so mundane they have to be explained.

The tradition was started in 2014 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.

You can comb through social media using the hashtag #地味ハロウィン but below we present to you some of our favorites from this year’s festivities. We’ve been covering this event since 2018 so you can also take a look at some past years too!

Five Things To Look Forward to at the 2025 World Expo Japan Pavilion

October 20, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off

The 2025 World Expo in Osaka, slated to take place in Osaka, is just 6 months away. Taking place from April 13 to October 13, 2025, the expo aims to be a participatory, experiential, solutions-oriented exposition, offering the world an opportunity to come together in one place to explore a new vision forward. And as details are beginning to leak out, here are a few things we’re excited about seeing at the host country’s Japan Pavilion.

The New 12 Kanda Co-Working Space Supports Small Businesses

October 19, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off

all photos by Toshiyuki Yano

Right across the Kanda River from Akihabara Station is 12 Kanda, a new co-working space dedicated to supporting small businesses and startups. A visually eye-catching building, it features multiple stories with different forms and functions stacked on each floor.

An Exhibition of Plushie, Small Disappointments

October 6, 2024 / Johnny / 3 Comments

An onigiri smushed at the bottom of your bag. Water splashing off a spoon. Burnt toast. Life is full of small disappointments. But helping us see the humor in it all is Makosun, a Japanese maker of weird plushies—their words, not ours—who renders all these small disappointments as handmade plushies.

In an Appeal to Young Workers, a Manufacturing Company Steps Away from Obscurity

October 5, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off

all photos by Takumi Ota courtesy Schemata Architects

For decades, Japanese manufacturers have worked in obscurity, churning out parts for the world’s biggest automakers and smartphone brands. And for the most part—largely owing to the confidential nature of their work—they have remained behind the curtain, neither seeking credit nor publicity for their work. One of those companies is Furukawa Manufacturing, which has been creating tailor-made production systems for automobile companies since 1940.

This Halloween, a Zombie Shinkansen Will Travel Between Tokyo and Osaka

September 29, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off

Want a taste of the frights but too busy to go to a haunted house? How about a haunted train? This year, a Tokaido shinkansen, in what is being called the world’s first zombie bullet train, will travel between Tokyo and Osaka.

Artists Summon Mythical Creatures of the Echigo Region for the 2024 Wara Art Festival

September 29, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off

photos courtesy Wara Art Festival

Autumn is officially upon us. It’s the season of shorter days, brighter moons and bountiful harvests. Niigata prefecture, in Northern Japan, is known for its rice paddies and rice production. Around this time of year the rice harvest becomes a big deal, as well as the tons of rice straw, or wara, that is leftover. It can be plowed down as soil improver, fed to livestock, or even woven into decorative ornaments.

But before any of that, for the past 10 years Uwasekigata Park has hosted a Wara Art Festival by teaming up with art students to create creatures, both real and mythical, from rice straw.

150-Year Old Florist in Yanaka Blossoms with a New Cafe

September 22, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off

all photos by Takuya Seki courtesy Maru Architects

Founded in 1870, Hanaju is a florist that has served Tokyo’s Yanaka neighborhood for over 150 years. The flower shop is located near the entrance of Yanaka Cemetery and is surrounded by traditional homes and businesses, including a headstone supplier, that harken back to older times. Just last summer, after 3 years of planning, Hanaju reopened with an outdoor garden and cafe.

Tentacle-Inspired Leather Accessories Handcrafted by Cokeco

September 12, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off

Cokeco are a Fukuoka-based design duo who create leather accessories inspired by the natural curiosities of the world around them. Lately, their attention has been focused on sealife: specifically, our multi-limbed mollusc friends whose tentacles provide endless inspiration for bags, keychains and other everyday accessories.

Craft Your Own Salt From Over 600 Varieties at this New Salt Specialist in Tokyo

September 10, 2024 / Johnny / 2 Comments

unless otherwise noted, all photos by Takeshi Shinto

This summer, a unique store opened in Tokyo. Located just a few steps away from Tokyo Sky Tree is “Guruguru Shakashaka,” a salt specialty store that lets you explore 600 varieties of salt and then blend your own. Equally unique is the name, which is based on the Japanese onomatopoeia for mixing and shaking.