Kigurumi Fever in Zamboanga!

I organized a kigurumi parade last March 25, 2012 after successfully raiding Zamboanga in our pajamas on my birthday celebration. My friends saw my photos of my birthday trip with my best friend and they suggested that I should organize a kigurumi parade and invite more people to participate. It was not a bad idea and a few of my friends joined and and bought their own kigurumis for the parade.

At Mindpro Cinema after watching Hunger Games

BTW, a kigurumi is a mascot pajama of animals and popular characters like Hello Kitty and Pikachu. This form of fashion is famous in the streets of Japan and kigurumi wearers usually put on their pajamas like any other clothing and hang out in malls or along the streets.

Mascots in Gateway!

Me and my friends wanted to try wearing our kigurumis and parade around town and to see how people will react after seeing a bunch of kids in animal pajamas.

Papa Bear, Dinosaur and Frog

We got mixed feedback from the townsfolk. Some people gave us big smiles, some gave as a confused look but most of them ignored us even though we really stood out that day.

On with the parade! 

Hello Kitty (me), Rilakkuma, Frog, koala, Marie and Kangaroo.

Our first activity of the day was to watch Hunger Games on the cinema. We put on our pajamas before going inside the cinema and people just stared at us the moment we went in. I heard some said "Seriously?" with a tone that suggested that she thought we were crazy idiots in clown costumes. I just laughed it off and concluded that that was the best comment I have ever heard so far. We did not mind other people's reactions and just sat back and enjoyed the movie.

Here we are in Mindpro Citimall!

We decided to raid the other malls in the city, still in pajamas. We were enjoying our time in playful outfits.

Just outside Gateway mall. We were off to spend time in Gamezone.

Gamezone was not that crowded that day. Yipee! 

Dino-girl on the dancepad!

Well, have you seen a dinosaur dance before? Theresa, the girl inside the dinosaur pajama, joined this kid here on the dance pad. I think the kid was distracted by his opponent's getup, as you can see here on the photo.

We met a few friends while in Gateway and posed for a few photos. LOL. That was a little bit awkward.

After hanging out for a few minutes in Gamezone, we went down to the grocery to buy a few snacks to go OMNOMNOM. 

Hungry monsters off to the grocery!

I love how the reaction of those kids were captured on the photo.

Omnom time! Ice cream, chitchats and more photos.

Hotdogs and ice cream!!

Mouths were full! 

This photo reminded me of the quote "Rawr means I love you in dinosaur!"

It was actually a fun Sunday afternoon! I know you guys are still puzzled as to why we did this but let me tell you one thing me and my friends have in common: we were not afraid to try out new things especially when these are connected to Japan or the Japanese culture. Actually, most of us are cosplayers and otakus so we were not ashamed of dressing up differently in public. 

Standing L-R: Kangaroo (Fran), Marie (Rani), Rilakkuma (Michelle), Pikachu (Joella), Hello Kitty (Cee),  Koala (Veronica), Dinosaur (Theresa). Squatting L-R: Papa Bear (Michael), Frog (Jet)

The most important thing that day was to enjoy the experience of being different in a fun way. And we were one of the first ones to costrip the kigurumis (cosplay/dress up casually) in Zamboanga City. Ain't it a good experience for us all?
 

Related posts: Kigurumi Party and Shoot, Kigurumi Party Teaser