The second Monday in January marks Japan's official Coming of Age Day. Men and women who have turned 20 the year prior are celebrated annually. The ceremonies were hosted by local government offices recognizing the celebrants as official adults. Thus, they can meet a lot of friends from elementary school. After the ceremony, they have a party at night with friends from junior high school or high school. On Coming of Age Day, women typically wear long-sleeved kimonos with fur,

Many Japanese people visit a Shinto shrine during the first three days of January in order to make traditional New Year’s wishes for their health and happiness. This is called Hatsumode, and it is one’s first visit of the year to a shrine or temple. A large shrine like Meiji Jingu will have over a million visitors in the first few days of the year. Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. After they pass

Have you ever thought of marriage? Isn’t it normal to get married by mutual consent? However, there was some unbelievable form of marriage in history which still exists today. This fact is literally pitiful and is an unforgivable action. My friend suggested the topic of bride kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan as the topic of a group presentation and through that research, I became interested in this topic. In this essay, I will discuss bride kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan through its curr