2007 January 8 Monday.
Today is a National Holiday in Japan called Coming of Age Day 成人の日. It is also the last day of my winter vacation, and none too soon. While I did enjoy the free time and take advantage of it by doing various things, I couldn't go snowboarding even once, because there was just not enough powder snow. It hasn't snowed for weeks! Strange. Anyway, back to today's events. In Japan, when a person becomes 20 years old, they are considered to be an adult. Therefore, those young people who have turned 20 years old during the past year between this date last year and today, are able to attend one of the Coming of Age Day Ceremonies 成人式 in their village, town or city. The young ladies dress up in a beautiful formal kimono 振袖 and the young men wear either a traditional Haori Hakama 羽織 袴, or a business suit. They may hear a speech from the mayor of the city and other VIPs telling them that they are now expected to contribute to society in a responsible manner etc. etc. After the ceremony is finished, many young people will go to a bar or a restaurant and have a big party. One of the things Ikuko and I did today was to drive over to the Kamikawa Shrine 上川神社 with all of our New Year's decorations so that we could burn them in a ceremony called DonDo Yaki どんど焼き. This is kind of a shame because some of the decorations were really pretty. As expected, it was very crowded at the shrine and there were guardmen standing around to direct traffic. After we finished that, we came back home and spent time reading various things about various subjects. Tomorrow it's back to the regular work schedule.
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