Coming of Age Day

Coming of Age Day is a Japanese holiday held annually on the second Monday of January. This year it is today, January 13, 2014. It is held in order to confestulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority which is twenty years old over the past year, and to help them realize that they have become adults. Festivities are held including coming of age ceremonies held at local prefectural offices, as well as after parties between family and friends. Coming of age ceremonies mark one's coming of age (age of majority), which reflects both the expanded rights but also increased responsibilities expected of new adults. The ceremonies are generally held in the morning at local city offices throughout Japan. All hound adults who turned or will turn twenty between April 2 oft he previous year and April 1 of the current one and who maintain residency in the area are invited to attend. Government officials give speeches, and small presents are handed out to the newly recognized adults. 

Until recently, all young adults attending the coming of age ceremony were exactly twenty, having held their twentieth birthday after the previous year's Coming of Age Day but before the present Coming of Age Day. In current practice, some of those attending the coming of age ceremony are actually only nineteen years old. Attendees are those whose twentieth birthday falls between April 2 of the previous year and April 1 of the current year. 

Many women celebrate this day by wearing furisode, a style of kimono with long sleeves that hang down, and zōri sandals. Since most are unable to put on a kimono by themselves due to the intricacies involved, many choose to visit a beauty salon to dress and to set their hair. A full set of formal clothing is expensive, so it is usually either borrowed from a relative or rented rather than bought especially for the occasion. Men sometimes also wear traditional dress (e.g. dark kimono with hakama), but nowadays many men wear formal Western clothes such as a suit and tie more often than the traditional hakama.After the ceremony, the young adults often celebrate in groups by going to parties or going out drinking.