These days the young people dress up, girls most often wearing a special kimono and having their hair done at a beauty salon. They then attend ceremonies held by the local city hall. There are some beautiful photos here.
The day can also involve a visit to a shrine as talked about here. And then an after-party with friends. Here is another little article about it, if you want to go and have a look.
It might surprise you to find out that Japanese can't legally vote, drink, or smoke until they turn 20. The whole thing surprised a 20 y.o. Indian girl in our church. She arrived three months ago to do a year exchange at a university and speaks hardly any Japanese. When they broached the idea of her joining in our church's blessing ceremony today, she laughed, having considered herself an adult since she moved out of home at 17 to begin her tertiary education in India. But she gamely joined the three other young people at the front of the church while our pastor read words of wisdom from the Bible and prayed over them.
I think it is great that that our church embraces these traditional Japanese ceremonies. They also bring the children up on Children's Day and pray for them too (this usually happens at a Shrine).
It is a public holiday in Japan tomorrow, but not a CAJ holiday. Oh well. But we seventh grade parents have taken advantage of this situation and are having our annual parents lunch. Lots of people came last year, so it will be interesting to see how many turn up this time. Usually I feel terribly outnumbered and lost, there are not very many Caucasian parents in the class and many of the parents feel shy speaking English (and that's what they feel they must speak to me). But we have 10 new families this year, so perhaps it will be a little different tomorrow. I sometimes wonder if it doesn't help that I'm married to a staff member. Somehow that marks me out as a bit different...but I'm wandering now. Time to finish.
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