They Love Wearing The Same Outfits! Japan’s Osoroi Code

Hi everyone, Shiori here! Today I’m going to talk about clothes. You know, Japanese and Western culture can be quite the opposite sometimes. For most Western people, if you’re dressing up for an occasion, you’ll prefer something that makes you look special or unique, rather than something everyone else is wearing.

And you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing exactly the same clothes as your friends, would you? (Well, except if you’re a bridesmaid at a friend’s wedding. ?)

But in Japan, a lot of people like to dress up exactly like each other. It’s something that we call osoroi code (おそろいコーデ), or matching outfits, and we do it when we’re out with friends, partners or family. It’s really popular, especially among young people. It doesn’t have to be a special day or occasion – people do it when they go shopping together or even playing by the beach.

You can often spot osoroi code people in town. We’ve seen couples wearing exactly the same clothes from cap to shoes. You’re probably thinking, “Ew, that’s too much!” It might seem a bit lame at first, but once you get used to it they’re actually pretty cute.

Osoroi code people say that wearing matching outfits are an expression of their love and closeness with their partners or friends. Sounds like a perfectly good rationale to me!

One place that you’ll definitely see lots of osoroi code (or futago code, if it’s just two people) is at Tokyo Disneyland or Disneysea. If you’ve been there before, you probably noticed the couples and groups of friends all wearing the same outfits. Well, now you know why! For them, half the fun of the trip is planning what to wear together.

While we were at Disneyland last weekend we saw plenty of people wearing really nice matching outfits, and we managed to get some of them to pose for pictures:

How cute are they! Give it a try next time you’re in Japan! If you’re shy, Disneyland or Sea is probably the best place to try osoroi code for the first time, because everyone else is doing it and you won’t feel that out of place. In fact, I think dressing up like this makes the Disneyland experience a lot more fun!