Today is Seijin no hi (Coming of Age Day). This is when 20 year olds are considered adults in Japan. Most girls rent or buy furisode (long sleeved) kimono(formal Japanese dress) to wear to a ceremony. At this ceremony, there are many speeches and they are encouraged to recognize their responsibilities as adults. 20 years old is also the legal drinking age in Japan. A lot of them forgo their "responsibilities" have drinks before this ceremony and inevitably embarass themselves by being loud and rowdy outside and inside the hall. The cities that have had these problems have often thought of doing away with this event, thus penalizing those who actually look forward to it.
Since it was a National holiday, Satoshi was off. We went to our favorite cafe for breakfast. The place was packed! After breakfast, we went to recycle some of our old books. There is a store down the street from the cafe which buys and sells used books. For 19 items (books & magazines) we got...572 yen (about $6?) It was more then Satoshi had predicted we would get. And now our clutter is a bit cleaner. :) 
Have a nice week!
Kat,
ReplyDeleteI love it when you share little tidbits about japanese culture. My son who just joined the Air Force is looking forward to being stationed in Japan one day. He also hopes to be able to study the architecture and cuisine. I'll have to tell him that he won't have to wait long for the proper drinking age as he'll be 20 in less than 6 months!
Hi Rowena,
ReplyDeleteI hope when he gets stationed here he enjoys his stay!!
Take care!!