Memories from abroad - Coming of Age day in Kyoto
One of the the coolest parts about living in a city like Kyoto
Was accidentally coming across things like this...on a regular basis. There was always some sort of festival, celebration, or cultural event going on somewhere in the city. Never a dull day in my life over there. I think the most bored I ever got was sitting at a Starbucks that overlooked the Kamo River, but even people watching at that hella busy location was interesting.
Celebrated on the second Monday of January, Coming of Age Day (Seijin no Hi) brings together all the youth that had turned 20 in the previous year. A symbolic ceremony with speeches and the like ushering kids into the world of adulthood, they really just gather to party and have some fun. An excuse to get dressed up in traditional garb and rock it out in public. For us here in the U.S., 18 is the age of adulthood, but over there things start a bit later.
For those of us who just happen to be around for it
It's a great time to grab some shots of some really cool clothes and youth being youth. Admittedly, when I took these shots I wasn't too much older than them but...that's not the point. They gathered together to have a lot of fun, even with the police watching from nearby.
According to my research
This ceremony has been going on since at least 714, with it becoming a national holiday in 1948. But, in recent years attendance has been declining due to a number of factors. A huge one being the shrinking number of youth in the country because of a declining birth rate. The lack of immigration (Japan doesn't really let people in), and frustration of both men and women and gender roles within the country (long, long conversation), and various other underlying societal issues...Japan is headed for some interesting times as its population deflates like an old balloon. Some say it's a good situation, others bad. Time will tell.
The young ladies were mostly dressed
In furisode, a type of traditional kimono. With long sleeves, intricate patterns, and vibrant colors. Let me tell you, these ladies love dressing up like this. It might be a huge pain in the bum to get it all together, and expensive, but the smiles on their faces as everyone stared at them, hehe. Lovely. I remember the few times the girl I was dating dressed up like that. More fun than you can imagine :) Men were split between traditional kimono and formal western clothing. Some even had swords...for unknown reasons. But, they looked cool so...
It's strange
But in the 6 years I lived in Japan, I think I only witnessed this event once. I really did just run across stuff as I wandered the city. Though, there were many things I put on a schedule and made sure to attend. But, those are stories for a different day.
I hope you enjoyed this quick memory of mine. Maybe even learned a little bit. I'd love to hear what you think. Have you ever seen this celebration? Ever been to Japan? Let me know :)
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An Elvis Style Yankee who looks like they belong in the Shonan Era haha good old classical attire.
Lol. Yeah, they really had fun with it. There were a bunch that pulled that look, hehe.
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one of my dream countries to visit at least is Japan. you seem to have good memories and youth well spent. i keep reading about the decline in younger population. there was even one that said they have problems having sex because everybody seems to be busy.
on the last photo, it seems the couple don't care about the trash around them and would rather let the cleaners do their job.
Hehe, yeah, I got a couple shots of people looking tired from all the fun, but that one was the strongest.
There are many reasons why there's less sex happening in Japan right now...it was becoming prevalent even when I was living there. Expectations, gender roles, a bunch of stuff. There are giant studies on it. From what I understand and heard from the older generations were completely ok with it...but I don't think they quite understood the long-term ramifications both internally and globally.
at first i found it funny when i've read about it. the more i learned about it, the more it seems to be concerning.
It is quite concerning. You can make jokes about it, but there's a lot of deep social issues that are coming to the surface. And it's frustrating because whenever you try and talk about it, out comes the, 'you just don't understand the Japanese,' or the Japanese culture. And you're like, 'science.' But....yeah. Don't live there anymore so the conversation never really comes up.
i hope the younger generation now will learn more about the impacts of that and they act on it.
They never do, but such is life.
This is really fun :) It's almost like Elvis "samurai style" lol. But that's what you want to see, some fresh fun and eccentric celebrations.
Exactly :) The hair had me laughing for hours. But, different places, different styles :)
Very much so :)
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The best post
Nice photos! We have lots of beautiful things in Japan but this is also our reality. Sometimes these contradictory cultures are becoming our new reality. Asia is very interesting. Your photos are awesome!
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable mentions list in today's Travel Digest!
Saw this featured over on @jrvacation (๑•‿•๑). Japan really is an interesting place. A land of juxtaposition.
I've only heard of Seijin festivals and haven't had the chance to see it for myself. And I didn't know it's been ongoing since 714. Kinda sad to think about, that this long tradition is now in decline.
Very cool post, with nice photos (๑✧‿✧๑).
Thank you so much for stopping by! @jrvacation...have to check them out :) Cool to see my work popping up in different places.
Yeah, times change, countries change...they really need to figure out that problem otherwise they're going to have some serious economic issues in a couple decades.
You're welcome! Credit goes to @jrvacation (๑•‿•๑). Otherwise, I might not have found this for a while! It seems they hadn't let people know they've been featured. Which is cool, since it's a nice surprise. Here's the post I happened to click on where you're featured. https://steemit.com/travel/@jrvacation/travel-japan-weekly-digest-first-edition-week-1
Oh, yes. Time for them to let some gaijin in, huh? Hahaha! (๑˃‿˂)
Hehe. Well, they did kinda let people know via an SBD deposit they sent us :) As a thank you for making quality content about Japan. Glad to see a lot of these curation pages that are popping up are also passing that on to the people making the stuff.
Oh! Nice! (๑✧‿✧๑)
Yes, that is good to see (๑•‿•๑). I'm still new here, and been seeing a lot of posts talking about "whales", voting abuse, and all that. Still trying to figure out what's what, haha.
Welcome to Steemit! Yeah, there are a lot of things going on here when it comes to power. But, for now, don't worry about that. Find your niche, focus on making friends, commenting, producing good content. By the time that matters you'll understand what you need to. So much more important stuff to learn than who are the gods of Steemit. :)
Thank you! (๑•‿•๑) I appreciate the good advice, and I'll definitely keep that in mind going forward! I've already learned a lot this week just from reading interesting posts.
My main concern was with social etiquette on Steemit. See, I'm inept when it comes to social media. Never had Facebook, don't have a Twitter, and I don't even have my own cellphone. I've been watching YouTube since its inception, but didn't bother making an account until just last year.
So, that's where I'm at (๑˃‿˂). I'm liking the different communities here so far. Lots of friendly and knowledgeable people who are willing to help out (๑•‿•๑).
Slowly but surely! I'm sure you'll do well here :)