Sushi's Blog: 2015

Atsushi Hida
Introduction to Journalism and Media
December 5, 2015

My Final Feature Story “Coming-of-age Ceremony”

The second Monday of January is "Seijin no hi" (Coming-of-age Day) in Japan. People celebrate this day to welcome the young men and women, who have turned or will turn the age of twenty during the current year, as new members of society. Ceremonies are held in every city, town, and village. The people who have reached the age of twenty get the right to vote and also allowed to smoke and drink in Japan. Depending on the area in Japan, some ceremonies are held at hotels or even at Tokyo Disneyland, as it is for those in Urayasu City in Chiba Prefecture. Normally we will attend the Coming-of-age Ceremony of your hometown. Similar to an alumni association, you get the chance to meet some friends you haven’t seen in a long time. That is good point. At the ceremony, one person acts as a representative of the new adults and presents their goals, and the mayor of the city will give a speech. After the ceremony has finished, it is common for everyone to go drinking with their friends because we can drink from twenty years old in Japan.
The girls prepare a kimono known as “Furisode” for their coming of age ceremony.

“There are some of examples of “Furisode” from http://www.furisode-chiba.jp/”
Also the men prepare a kimono known as “Hakama” for their coming of age ceremony. It is common for men to wear a suit to their coming of age ceremony. Some of men will wear a kimono with “Hakama”. We can rent “Hakama” for men at a kimono rental shop. We can rent them for around 1000 dollars. The ones that stand out at the Coming-of-age Ceremony are not the boys, but the girls in their “Furisode”. Sometimes we will even see someone wearing unique clothing that looks like famous characters such as Iron Man, Batman, and Star Wars characters etc.

“These are some of example of “Hakama” from http://www.5298higuchi.com/original125.html”
But most of men just wear suit so my best friends and I did wear suit and I did not see any people who wear “Hakama” at my coming-of-age Ceremony. I was going to wear “Hakama” but it was too expensive to buy it or rent to it and I knew that I would not wear “Hakama” after Coming-of-age Ceremony so I decided to wear suit.

“This is from my Coming-of-age Ceremony. It was January 10, 2011.”
Kimono such as “Furisode” and “Hakama” are the traditional clothing of Japan. The special feature of “Furisode” is the long sleeves. “Furisode” give the most spectacular impression out of all kimono types. “Furisode” are worn by unmarried women only. Nowadays “Furisode” are the most prestigious dress for unmarried women to wear. Wearing “Furisode” at a coming-of-age ceremony symbolizes a fresh start in your life. It also symbolizes getting rid of the bad and attracting the good. The patterns of each kimono have different meanings, symbolizing prayers and wishes. For example, a “Sakura” pattern is worn when wishing for the woman to always shine brightly. However, most of Japanese people these days are not that familiar with these traditional meanings. On the day of the ceremony, girls will visit a beauty salon to help them put on their kimono and they make up girls’ hair.
One of my friends told me that while it is nice that we don’t have to wear kimono all the time nowadays, that also means that when we wear one we get very tired. Many layers are worn, and the “obi” is tied very tightly. On the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, you can see many girls wearing gorgeous “Furisode” around the town. Some people purchase their “Furisode”, and some rent one. For a “Furisode” on the cheaper side it would cost around 100,000 yen for a full set. 100,000 yen means 1000 dollars. But a higher class “Furisode” can costs millions of yen so it can cost10000 dollars. But we can rent “Furisode”. The cost of renting a kimono depends on which kimono you rent. Renting a “Furisode” usually costs around 1000 – 2000 dollars, but if you are not picky you can probably find one for around 500 dollars. It is common to have pictures taken at studio wearing your “Furisode” on the day of or the day before the ceremony.
So Coming-of-age Ceremony is supposed to be formal, and traditional ceremony but some people think that it is like a party. So after Coming-of-age Ceremony we always watch the news that talk about problem of Coming-of-age Ceremony every year. I found a video that is showing us about Coming-of-age Ceremony. There are some funny or stupid people in Okinawa, Japan. I interviewed couple of my friends “What do you think about one of unique Coming-of-age Ceremony in Okinawa, Japan?”