A personal dream and goal of mine has been to buy a kigurumi in Japan. Basically, it’s like a huge costume of a stuffed animal toy, but warm, comfortable, and generally fun to waddle around in. Way back in Tokyo, my friend Steff and I both finally got to accomplish our goals; we chose tiger and dinosaur. Or dragon, as some people think that my costume could be either.

A little while ago, we had the goodbye party for our Japanese class, and who were we to resist dressing up a little bit and causing general discomfort for Japan for the day? Riding the train and subway to school got me stares and general giggles. Being on campus in the outfit was another story altogether.

It was basically as if Steff and I were walking to and from class naked, that was the amount of attention and stares we received. Students actually stopped in their tracks to watch us go past, others were bold enough to wave and tell us how cute we were. Another boy actually followed us from the cafeteria to the convenience store on campus to ask us what exactly we were up to (and ended the conversation by urging us to watch anime, of all things). The oddest occurrence of all, however, was being stopped by Nanzan’s fashion club and being submitted to a tiny photoshoot because apparently, they saw our get-ups as “fashionable.”

I had also decided to top off my ridiculousness by being as outlandish as possible, toting around aviator sunglasses, bright yellow star headphones, and a robot bag. Some could potentially argue that I was being bold. I would answer by saying I was wearing pajamas and resembling a clown. As it turns out, we’re going to be included in the next fashion magazine. Lucky us!

Despite it being generally far too warm to wear a fleece bodysuit and enduring far more attention than I thought was possible for an entire day, it was actually almost refreshing to finally have Japanese students find strength in our boldness to actually approach us. My host mother even showed me off to my host father because she thought I looked hilarious. I can now say that after parading around Japan dressed as a dinosaur, there’s not much left for me to do that will potentially harm my dignity. I have done the ridiculous, and I did it with swagger.

Location: Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan