After many tireless hours of primping, they can then join up with others at a select location where dozens of photographers are waiting for them. I went to the Shibuya ward office, one of the biggest and most popular Seijin Shiki spots in Tokyo. New adults were greeted by a horde of families and photographers, as well as big television networks such as NHK and CNN who were there to report the event. It was my first time covering the Coming of Age Day, and while I was there I spoke with a few other photographers and was surprised to hear that there were many less 20 year-olds in comparison to the previous year.
The reason for this is because of the decreasing birth rate in Japan, a rate that has been decreasing steadily for the last 30 years. After doing a little bit of research, I discovered that five years ago there were exactly new adults in Shibuya and 15 years prior to that the number exceeded After spending a few hours outside the city offices, the young adults were invited inside the C.
Lemon Hall where they took part in a presentation given by the mayor of the city to congratulate them on becoming adults and to remind them that they now have the right to vote. However, the city office has had a complete turnaround and, along with some other Kanto municipalities, abruptly canceled the ceremony just before Christmas.
On the other hand, even though Kansai has declared its own state of emergency , Coming of Age Day ceremonies are among the events that leaders there say may go ahead with caution.
With no ceremony to attend, my daughter and her former classmates have been weighing their options. Having already done the maedori portraits, some parents have decided to cut their losses and return the rented kimono early. Others, like us, will still have our kids dress up and celebrate privately with just family or small groups of friends.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page. Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting.
To learn more see our FAQ. It looks like you're using an ad blocker. Thank you for supporting our journalism. During the Edo period , boys had their forelocks cropped off, and girls had their teeth dyed black. It wasn't until that 20 became the legal age of adulthood. These days, males generally wear suits to their coming-of-age ceremony, but a lot of females choose to wear traditional furisode - a special type of kimono for unmarried women with extra-long sleeves and elaborate designs.
For unmarried women, furisode is about the most formal thing they can wear, and so many of them don it to the event marking the start of their adult life.
0コメント