The Big 2-0 Turning 20 is a big deal in Japan. For the first time you can drink alcohol, smoke, vote and get married without your parent’s say-so. Never missing the chance to hold a formal ceremony Seijin no Hi is the Coming of Age Day, and is a national holiday as well (usually the second Monday in January). In towns across Japan, anyone that turned twenty that year will attend an official ceremony to commemorate their passage into adulthood.
The girls are fully decked out in traditional kimono and the guys choose between the male version or a Western-style suit. It’s also become notorious in recent years for bad behavior by the new adults. Having partaken of the newly legal alcohol they can been seen on the news disrupting their town ceremonies, a sign of the generation gap opening up between the young and their more traditional, reserved elders.
Japan can get a little pricey if you are travelling around, and if you don’t have the luxury of having friends and family dotted all over the country, you might be looking to save a bit of money on your accommodation. After all, most of the time you are simply looking for a place to lay your head for a while to refresh before continuing the adventure the next day. Big city Japan has you covered though. Check out all night internet cafes for a place to crash.
Many are 24 hours, have food and drinks available and often even showers. You can choose whether you want a reclining chair or sofa to stretch out on, and for a fraction of the cost of a hotel room you can stay the night and get movies, internet and as much Japanese manga as you can read into the bargain. The snores from other compartments let you know you are not the only one. Or if you need to lie down to catch up on sleep find yourself a capsule hotel. Just enough room to lie down in, with a TV, luggage storage facilities and probably an onsen too; with just enough room for each person the hotel can get more people in and hence the price is very affordable. These are usually single sex and a favorite haunt of the drunk salary man who has missed the last train home to his dormitory town.
