You head out to Disneyland in Japan, because it’s the happiest place to be on earth. You look around the candy-colored set up that makes your heart all warm and fluffy, and then you suddenly realize a surge of people in identical outfits, and the thought springs to your mind. Why is everyone matching in pairs? Am I seeing double?

But no, don’t worry, this isn’t your vision decaying — what you’re witnessing is a widely-embraced fashion trend in Japan, familiarized by the term futago coordinate or twin look (more often known as futago code *pronounced coh-deh).” Here in MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON we trace down the roots and the reason why it’s become such a popular sensation today.

1. What is this twin look all about?

～Differentiating between twin look, Osoroi, Pair look, and Kaburu～

Free online Japanese dictionary Weblio describes “Twin Look (Futago Coh-deh)” as so:

Achieved by two people dressed in identical clothes and accessories. The term “pair look” is often known to be similar to the “twin look” but is differentiated by the fact that a “pair look” mainly points at couples/married couples in matching clothes, whilst a “twin look” usually for female friends in matching outfits.

With that said, some of you may have heard the term osoroi being used to express this way of dress, and you’re actually not wrong. Osoroi is the all-encapsulating parent term that captures it all, whether it be twin look, pair look, or the term, kaburu, it’s all inclusive and it literally means “matching.” When it comes to osoroi, it can be one specific item, such as a tattoo, or even an inanimate object, like coffee cups. However at the same time it can also be the complete set-up, like the twin look.

Now some people can be anti-matching, so kaburu can come handy if this is the case — this term is used whenever you mean osoroi but want to assign a negative connotation to it, and Weblio states that the term is used whenever a piece of accessory or an outfit unexpectedly matches someone else’s.

For example the term can be used like this:

Situation: Person A is at a Halloween Party and is dolled up in a minion outfit.

Person B: “Oh hey, she’s dressed in a minion outfit too”

Person A: “No…kabutta (past tense of “kaburu”) Damn it.”

(The word “kabutta” is usually accompanied by a sigh.)

～Origins, etc.～

The first time a twin look popped into the eyes of the Japanese population may have been back in the late 1950s when the identical twin music duo, The Peanuts, came around. Not only were they monozygotic twins, their signature style was to sport identical outfits so you can barely tell them apart, which is quite the trouble for identical twins. Whether it be their album artwork or their music videos, you’ll see them look like mirroring images of each other. The only way to tell them apart was Emi’s mole on her face, but in their early years, Yumi would draw a mole on her face with a black marker — so that didn’t help telling which was which until later on, when Yumi retreated from faking her mole.

 Photo credits：http://sharetube.jp/article/3507/

However, it was only in the mid 90s that the twin look actually started picking up in fashion magazines. Possible influences include real twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who were widely-loved on the sitcom “Full House” that was airing on a public Japanese TV station at the time. Aside from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Kana and Mana Mikura aka ManaKana, who are identical twin actresses in Japan, gained popularity during this time as well* which may have also been an influencing factor for the twin look back in the day.

Photo credits：http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

*A popular topic when having them on a show would be “which is which?” and viewers loved it and laughed like there’s no tomorrow when the girls were caught saying the same thing at the same time.

2. Here’s what twin look lovers have to say:

Top left：miu (16y/o) Top right：Narunaru (24 y/o)

Bottom left + right：Kano (17 y/o)

According to our research, the reason why girls are obsessed with the twin look is as so: (1) the friendship grows stronger…50% (2) looks great in pictures…30% (3) outfit looks more fashionable when done in pairs…10% (4) great way to show how unique you are…10% 

From these results, we can see how going for a twin look is not that much different than having something in common. Every friendship bond grows stronger when you share something in common — whether it be music, cafes, books, etc. — here, the tool that fosters friendship just happens to be matching outfits. All of our interviewees were in their teens into their early twenties, and the majority told us they’d started the twin look from about three years ago, so the trend’s been around for a while. It also seemed like the general scale of fun got boosted since the twin look drew attention of others and motivated the pair to take more selfies and such than they would on a regular, non-matching day.

What was interesting was that even though they’ve got the exact same outfit on, they mentioned how it’s still a great way to demonstrate your individuality (which explains why your choice of color becomes extremely important in this case). Maybe it’s the little differences that speak the loudest.

Sadly (and quite surprisingly), no one knew The Peanuts.

3. Here’s what shops that promote the twin look have to say:

We asked a WE GO staff how the twin look scene is looking like right now, and it seems like sales are increasing for the summer, since summer is the time for a myriad of events to take place here in Japan — and events, alongside Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan, are apparently major hubs for girls to bust out their twin outfits. The staff we spoke with mentioned how the term “twin look” was coined about 2-3 years ago and it was then, when it was given its definition that differentiates itself from the generalized term, “osoroi.” They say looks with a range of color variations are usually up for grabs when it comes to pairs on the hunt for their twin look — affirming what the girls who rocked the twin outfits had mentioned, color variation is an important (and sole) factor where one can express their individuality in this instance.

Getting bored of dressing up on your own? The twin look may just save your day — find another and try the twin look to double on the fun.