“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 20^th 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.
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A friend of mine who splits his work time between TEAMLAB (which does the art I’m about to talk about) and Pixiv (a Japanese art sharing community) told me about their most recent project (which we’ll get to in the next couple of days) and it just absolutely blew me away. That got me poking around their portfolio, and time and time again I found myself hitting the full screen button and becoming hypnotized. I’d love to have some of their art on my wall, but I can’t afford all the LCD screens required.

“Flower And Corpse”

“Flower and Corpse” consists of 12 LED screens (think of them as modern-day hanging scrolls) that coordinate a story. Now, the really interesting thing about these hanging scrolls, is that they tell a story in 4 dimensions. The first three dimensions consist of the 3d art-style being used, and the fourth dimension comes from the various “scrolls,” which creates a time axis (and the 4th dimension). Really interesting stuff if you ask me, though it’s probably best if you just watched it. Be sure to full screen this sucker.

The story that takes place on these 12 LCD scrolls consists of the following. It can also be read here.

1. At the zenith of the HEIAN-era’s prosperity, Hikaru Genji lives in brilliant colors. One day, the capital HEIAN-KYO is suddenly struck by an unfortunate disease. Hikaru Genji leaves the capital on a quest to find out the cause of the disease that has fallen on his people.
2. Continuing on his search Hikaru Genji follows the trail of the disease and he arrives at a village. The village is holding a festival of thanks and gratitude to nature for its benevolence.
3. After the festival, the village starts to return to normal life, and the people live bravely and courageously even though there is still the threat of disease. They fell trees and work hard to continue to develop the civilization. Nature rewards the people with its benevolence and the people live good and peaceful lives.
4. The village people are requested to cut down more and more trees by the capital governor, in order to construct more buildings in the city. The village people plan to cut down a big tree from a forest deep in the mountains. After cutting down the big tree, suddenly, a YAMATANOOROCHI appears. The dragon burns with anger, and lets loose heavy rains that flood the village.
5. The YAMATANOOROCHI carry on rampaging and destroying the houses of the village. Then the forest gods come down to the village and take out their anger on the people in the village.
6. When the plight of the village is reported to the governor, he sends a group of Samurai to drive out the YAMATANOOROCHI and forest gods. The Samurai go to the village and start to fight the dragons with flaming arrows. After bitter fighting, the Samurai finally win the battle and kill the YAMATANOOROCHI and forest gods.
7. After the fight there is desolation, the ground is scorched and the houses are wrecked. The village loses nature’s benevolence and the people begin to suffer the torments of hunger.
8. Hikaru Genji is stunned as he stands surrounded by the dead YAMATANOOROCHI and forest Gods. In a state of bemusement Hikaru Genji tries casting seeds over the corpses. After a while, Shoots comes out from the bodies of the dead and flowers begin to blossom from them. Those flowers grow up trees and the forest comes back to life. The village people who have survived start to feel once again the benevolent forces of nature. They realize that whilst they make progress and start to develop civilization they must live in harmony with the forest. Finally, the festival is held in the village again.

Over the next week or two, I’ll introduce you to a few more TEAMLAB projects. I’ve been seeing a lot more modern traditional style art lately – I wonder if there’s a traditional art + modern style resurgence going on. Anyways, watch the art and become smart, etc.