“You know I be drinkin’ dat Crown Royal, son.”
Japanese Princess Mako (who seems to have permanent :3 face) recently turned 20, getting media coverage all over Japan. And while some of you might think that this some bullshit news story about a monarchy that has no real power or purpose in this day and age, you’d only be mostly right. (But that doesn’t mean you have to be so cynical about it!)
But this isn’t just any birthday; this is Princess Mako’s 20th birthday. And in Japan, 20 is when you’re officially considered an adult. When you’re 20 in Japan you can vote, buy cigarettes and most importantly, (legally) buy booze!
Like practically everything in Japanese society today, the importance of this age comes from the Meiji Era. As a mini-history lesson, the Meiji Era was an era at the end of the 1800s when Japanese society was pretty much completely restructured. It was during this time that the Japanese established the age of 20 as the age of majority.
This age has become so special that it’s even built into the language. Typically, when you talk about age in Japanese, you say the number followed by sai. For instance, I’m twenty-two, so in Japanese I would say that I’m nijyuni-sai. But there’s a special word in Japanese for 20-year-olds: hatachi.
And best of all, newly-minted Japanese adults have their very own national holiday!
Coming of Age Day
Probably the coolest part about turning 20 in Japan is Coming of Age Day (Seijin No Hi). In the United States, reaching 21 is celebrated by going out with friends, getting black-out drunk, and coming to regret everything that happened during that time. But in Japan, things are a little bit more refined than that.
It all started right after World War 2, when the Japanese had a generally really low morale after the devastating war. A young man in the city of Warabi decided to organize a youth festival to boost people’s spirits and from there, it took off.
“Coming of Age Day 2011 wooooooooooo!”
Early every January, Japanese communities across the country honor all the people who turned 20 in the past year. Women dress up in kimonos so fancy and expensive that they often have to be rented or borrowed; and men don their most dapper suits (or more traditional attire). Everybody gathers together in a public space like an auditorium or civic center and hold a big ceremony celebrating these new adults and welcoming them into adulthood.
Sometimes people celebrate Seijin No Hi in a more religious way, staying closer to Shinto traditions, but generally the holiday is a fairly secular affair filled with speeches and the like.
After the big ceremony though, the new adults usually go out and get trashed. I guess there are some traditions that are universal.
And thanks to Japan’s awesome “Happy Monday” system, Coming of Age Day is guaranteed to fall on a Monday, meaning that it’s part of a three-day weekend! Man, being an adult is awesome!
P.S. Are you old enough to be an adult in Japan? Follow us on Twitter.
P.P.S. Not quite old enough to be hitting the bars? Like us on Facebook