Today is a national holiday called seijin no hi(成人の日), Coming of Age Day. It was established in 1948 and has been celebrated on January 15 until 1999, but from 2000 according to Happy Monday System, it has been moved to the second Monday of January.
In Japan being adult is being 20 years old. We can drink, smoke, and vote.
This year about 1,240,000 people became adults in Japan. It was the least number in history. Japanese society is an aging society. Birth rate is decreasing, and people are getting old. The number of 20 years old this year was about half of that of 1970's.
Each city or town has their own celebration ceremony. The biggest one was held in Yokohama in Kanagawa, and about 34,000 people attended. The number of new adults in Kanagawa prefecture is 85,299.
On this occasion women wear the beautiful long sleeve kimono called furisode (振袖). If you come to Japan on this day, you can see many beautiful ladies for sure.
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