Day 28 of writing every day.
It’s Coming of Age Day in Japan. We don’t have a national tradition in the US where I’m originally from, so it might seem like a unique and wonderful thing to those new to Japanese culture. But these sorts of ceremonies have long existed across cultures and are celebrated at different ages and seasons.
In Japan the age that marks adulthood is 20, though in matching western practices it’s been lowered to 18 just the past few years.
It’s a silly affair in deciding what age someone is legally an adult or socially recognized as an adult. After all the legal age of adulthood means you can start voting at the age of 18 and start filling out paperwork on your own but not necessarily everything, and you can’t legally drink alcohol either.
In the US you join the military and vote at 18 but you’re not responsible or adult enough physically to be able to drink or smoke. In Japan it’s similar but the legal age to smoke and drink is 20 instead. Other countries might have different ages, perhaps okaying all things at 18.
Anyways, in Japan the coming of age means wearing a fancy kimono and going through hours of hair and make up prep before going out for a lot of women. Most men opt to go with western style suits instead of traditional formal garb.
If anything, the meaning of the day is for childhood friends who have parted ways since high school to have a reunion of sorts and catch up on all that has happened. For parents it’s like the next big thing to celebrate in their children’s life after their graduation from high school, if they went at all.
Age is just a number
The human body grows up slowly compared to animals with shorter lifespans, taking close to twenty years to reach full maturity, the brain growing into the mid-twenties even. But there are parts of us that don’t change from childhood even after physically maturing into adulthood.
Modern society I think terms someone associates being an adult as someone who is legally responsible for themselves, not their parents or the government. Reaching adult age doesn’t make anyone less susceptible to being lied to, manipulated, or exploited.
If all adults were truly rational beings not ruled by emotions, then perhaps humans would have developed a fairer and more just society than what we have today. The reality is there’s fraud and deception going on every day, and people continue to make bad choices every day on their own regardless of age and experience.
Going forward everyone who has come of age will face their own challenges and hopefully learn from their own mistakes. I’m still learning from mine and hoping to get a better life than what I have now. I hope they will find what they want to achieve in life or at the very least don’t turn to doing questionable things that spread misery.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 