Today, the second Monday in January, is a national holiday in Japan - seijin-no-hi or Adult's Day or Coming of Age Day.
Coming of Age ceremonies are held in public halls all over the country for young 20-year-olds reaching adulthood, legally enabling them to marry without their parents' consent, drive, gamble, smoke, drink and other freedoms.
Young Japanese women parade in their finest hired kimono, sporting elaborate nail art manicures and feather boas to ward off the season's chill.
Men don western suits or occasionally traditional Japanese hakama and haori.
Izakaya pubs, clubs, Love Hotels and restaurants are fully-booked as a new mass of neoteric adults celebrate their new-found freedom to party....legally.
© Guillaume Marcotte & JapanVisitor.com
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