No flannel, this is serious. Villagers in Hokkaido are making a bid for a Guinness World Record with the largest number of frozen pairs of jeans standing in the snow.
The bid in the village of Sarabetsu involves 295 pairs of trousers of various colors and sizes.
Around 120 participants set up the jeans Sunday evening as the mercury hit minus 5.3.
"It was freezing, but this was a memorable event," said kindergarten teacher Erika Kataoka, 22, from neighboring Nakasatsunai village.
Freezing jeans in cold weather and displaying them for fun has taken off since folks began doing it in the U.S. state of Minnesota this winter. The Internet has plenty of examples.
A citizens' group in the Tokachi area, which covers Sarabetsu, loved a picture of frozen pants posted by a villager on the Sarabetsu tourist association's Facebook page and decided to organize the event.