Coming of age day
You are given a day off for the sake of honoring twenty year olds? In Japan this is a reality. The second January of the year is the national holiday "Coming of age day". The young people who will turn twenty during the year begin the day with some really heavy duty dressing up. This is one of the few times that young people wear traditional clothes. ( Another time could well be when they go to a wedding, or a summer fireworks display.) Women ofter hire a specialist to help them put on a "furisode" , a special type of kimono for unmarried women. It has extra long sleeves. This kimono also has an extra big price. Some ot the kimonos in these photos cost their owners a pretty penny.... over $10,000! Many women quite understandably choose to rent the wearable artwork for between a cool $300 and a cool $1,000 . (for one day) A few men wear tradition cloths on this day but most choose to wear a suit. In the morning most twenty year olds march off to the local city hall. In this building many attend a formal ceremony . Usually a local politician makes some kind of speech and the young people are given a small gift. Some of these young adults prefer to stay outside of the city hall during the ceremony, which they consider to be quite dull.They have a good time chatting with former classmates who , in many cases , they have not seen for at least two years.
posted by charlespop @ 10:13 PM
0 comments
