Halloween around Shibuya is, at times, redundant. With fashion as it is around here—big hair, glossy lips, and hipster nonchalance—everyday is like Halloween.

Halloween is the one day every year when everyone gets a chance to try on a new identity. A chance to explore another side of ourselves without the crushing fear of embarrassment or rejection. It’s the one day we collectively begin to understand that all of life is performative, that we’re always in costume. Just like the kids bopping around Shibuya.

Pictured above is the seasonal special of JayZ’s Burger, a joint not far from where a few of us live that we discovered last month. As far as we know, the restaurant has no official connection to the eponymous rapper. We’re not entirely convinced.

So yes, the burger. This Jack-O-Lantern burger came with のり eyes, lettuce, tomato, and bacon, complete with a toothy Dorito™ grin. Defying modern physics, no less than a quart of some sort of pumpkin paste filled the space of a normal double quarter-pounder, smothering everything in its wake.

Not to break the gourmet spell, but I’ll admit that its most endearing features by its looks became its greatest detriment after biting in. Those のり eyes? One got stuck between my upper lip and teeth, and the other found its way to a very “blocking-my-windpipe” kind of location. And the pumpkin filling? I shudder at the memory.

In service to the overarching Halloween narrative, I learned a lot from this little guy. When we explore these other identities, these various paths and possibilities, we risk forgetting about what matters deep inside. The meat, if you will.

A painful, ¥1300 lesson, indeed.

(More food and development posts to follow)