Coming of Age

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, which is called Furisode.

I experienced the coming of age ceremony on January 8th. I also wore a Furisode and went to the local ceremony and party. I was fun to be able to meet people from back in the day there. To my surprise, a lot of friends had changed dramatically. There was a person who had grown 10 centimeters taller since I last met. For me, the day was very memorable because I was able to tell the words of thanks to my teachers at elementary school.

However, a shocking affair happened on that day. Harenohi, a company which lend and dress long-sleeved kimonos, closed their store on Coming of Age Day. A lot of new adults who reserved kimonos for the day became tumultuous because they were not able to wear their Furisode. The affair was so shocking for me because I was also a new adult. If I could not wear kimono on that day, I could not enjoy the ceremony, which takes place once in a life. I think that the company should have dealt with the accident by explaining the situation of the company beforehand. I hope that such a case will never happen in the future.

#JapaneseCulture #Kimono