In Japan, the coming of age festival is held on the second Monday of January (it used to be on January 15th but they stopped that in 1999) and is called Seijin No Hi. Basically everyone who will be 20 years old during the current school year, which runs between April and the following March, puts on fancy clothes and practice Seijin shiki, a coming of age ceremony. Ceremonies are held at local city offices. Government officials give speeches and everyone gets a little present. It’s all very happy.
More interestingly from a photograph perspective, all the women wear special Kimonos called furisode, which is apparently so hard to put on most of them head to beauty salons to get it put on for them, alongside a haircut and makeup or whatever. They also wear zori slippers, which are strange wooden shoes and because they never wear them, they’re all limping around like some invisible puppy has gone around the entirety of Japan snapping people’s ankles.
I didn’t really get many photos, because a foreigner following girls around in Oji is not the best idea. (We’re pretty much the only foreign people living here so it’s unlikely I could blend into the crowd.) However I did take two photos that I am really happy with, and they may feature somehow in the new Japan Is Doomed banner that I am working on. (This is the last one, I swear…) I posted one of them at the bottom of this update.
Sorry this update was so short but it was really a spur of the moment thing. As I said before I’m back at work now so life is dull. But on the weekend I may well be going snowboarding in Nagano. How exciting!
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Zori are actually very similar to thongs (flip-flops for the rest of you, what dirty minds you people have!), just with a little more “bling”. Allot of the walking issues come from the fact that the Kimono and undergarments (a more “plain” kimono, various wrappings and the sort) constrict your movement so much you can only take 15cm steps. Its pretty warm considering that including the obi (belt) you are wearing close to 6 layers!
Leon: It wasn’t so warm on Seijin No Hi this year so I don’t know if that will have been a problem but it sure was fun watching them all struggle around the streets!
I like this kind of update – where you talk about Japanese culture as well as your experiences. More of them please!
Lemon: I’m working on a few right now, bear with me!
I love this time of year, its’ so colorful with all the girls wearing their lovely kimonos
http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/japanese-coming-of-age-seijin-no-hi/