Coming-of-Age Day

Today was Coming-of-Age Day in Japan.  It's called 成人の日（Seijin no Hi, せいじんのひ）, held on the second Monday of each January.  The official age for adulthood is twenty here--20 to legally drink, smoke, vote, drive without needing a parent or guardian's signature.  I think it makes a bit of sense to have all these things happen at one age.  Of course, not everyone turns twenty on the same day, but it seems to be understood that people who go through this rite of passage during the same one-year span can celebrate together.  I think it's kind of nice.

Some of these kimono cost serious money.  I knew a girl who asked her mother if she could have a car instead of the kimono that would be tailor made for this special day.  Her mother said no.




 

Oh Tokyo!

After spending two weeks in a couple of developing countries, Myanmar (Burma)and Laos, I came back to Tokyo and, as often happens after I come back from trips, I noticed and appreciated some of the conditions here that I might ordinarily take for granted.  Being able to drink tap water, even if the chlorine taste is a bit strong.  Being able to use credit cards.  Convenience stores on every block.  Supermarkets.  Clean public restrooms stocked with toilet paper. 
 
A lot of it is excessive, and certainly in societies of abundant resource there is waste.  Someone told me that with the energy you use to power a vending machine you could light up an entire block; and there are seriously a lot of vending machines here.  (Of course, I'm sure there are variables, such as the size of the block and how lit up you need it to be.)  


But for these first few days back, I'll let myself find comfort in convenience.  It's not that I think life in Japan is better than in these other countries, but I ought to to appreciate things as the feeling spontaneously arises.  One of the things I marvel at is Tokyo's train system.  Days ago, I was biting my lip in frustration as I waited for the monorail in Kuala Lumpur, where I spent the day in transit.  I stood in line at the ticket (actually, token) machines, which were touchscreen and clearly mapped out.  They looked quite modern and nicely designed.  But the touchscreen aspect really slowed things up; people were missing the spots they wanted to touch and having to go back and forth to navigate the monorail map.  I tried timing the wait, and some passengers were taking over a minute to buy one token.  On top of that, some of the machines refused paper currency; all of them refused large bills.  

To be fair, certain monorail lines ran more efficiently than others.  But while I was there I noted some of the things that I take for granted with Tokyo trains/subways/monorails.  Signs on every platform telling you which station you were at, what the last station was and what the next station will be.  Where the final stop is on each train line.  A full schedule posted of all train arrivals for the day, for weekdays and weekends.  Maps above the ticket machines so that people standing in line can calculate their fares ahead of time.  (Although I have to recognize that this doesn't always do the trick here in Japan, as I've often stood behind passengers who wait until they're in front of the ticket machines to gaze up at the maps and figure out how much money to put in. . .Truth be told, it's one of my two or three pet peeves.  Sorry, I don't mean to be whiny.)  Anyway, I found myself admiring the collective effort that must have gone into making the Tokyo train and subway system the efficient juggernaut that it is today.  Tens of millions riding those sleek rails every day! 

Below are some pictures of Kuala Lumpur's monorail system.  You can compare them to Tokyo's daily grind in the video that follows.

Kuala Lumpur

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Tokyo