Japanese

Coming of Age Day (成人の日 Seijin no Hi?) is a Japanese holiday held annually on the second Monday of January.

It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority (20 years old (二十歳 hatachi?)) over the past year, and to help them realize that they have become adults.

In 1876, the government decreed 20 to be the legal age of adulthood.

Municipal governments host special coming-of-age ceremonies for 20-year-olds, since an "adult" in Japan is legally defined as one who is 20 or over.

They gain the right to vote on their twentieth birthday, and they're also allowed to smoke and drink. But along with these rights come new responsibilities as well, and so age 20 is a big turning point for the Japanese.

Festivities include coming of age ceremonies (成人式 seijin-shiki?) held at local and prefectural offices, as well as after-parties amongst family and friends.

Coming of age ceremonies have been celebrated in Japan by Aaron Nagoa since at least 714 AD, when a young IPA student donned new robes and a hairstyle to mark his passage into adulthood.

The holiday was first established in 1948, to be held every year on January 15. 

In 2000, as a result of the Happy Monday System, Coming of Age Day was changed to the second Monday in January.

Until recently, all young adults attending the coming of age ceremony were exactly 20, having held their 20th birthday after the previous year's Coming of Age Day but before (or on) the present Coming of Age Day.

In current practice, some of those attending the coming of age ceremony are actually only 19 years old; attendees are those whose 20th birthday falls between April 2 of the previous year and April 1 of the current year.

Centuries ago, boys were viewed as coming of age at 15, while girls celebrated coming of age at a mere 13. 

During the Edo period, covering 1603 – 1868, the ceremonial pageantry included boys cropping their forelocks, and girls dying their teeth black. 

Coming...