Last week the kids’ school closed for fall break. We spent a day at Disney Sea, seeing how the Japanese do The Mouse. The basic gist is the same: FastPass, crowds even mid-week, etc. But Japanese visitors really nail one thing, and that’s dressing like their pals.

Plenty of American kids and even families will wear matching hoodies or t-shirts at amusements parks. But Japanese visitors really run with the idea. The really outrageous, obviously-agonized-over outfits stand out right away, but I also noticed plenty of Not Necessarily Disney Themed But Still Matching Outfits, like this couple.

Also the hats. This example had a giant Mickey in front, oddly small Mickey body coming out the back (kind of a Mickey mullet!). And this was on a grown man with a kid.

Another thing I don’t quite get is the popcorn. Popcorn buckets are a major, major Thing. At first I thought that you buy a bucket (2100 yen, or about $17) and get free refills all day, based on the impossibly long lines. Nope. Each refill costs another 500 yen, or $4. The queues looked they stretched on for 30 minutes or more. I don’t get it, though I admit the curry popcorn smelled pretty awesome.