Coming of Age and Photos

I had my 2nd debut today. Yep, I'm not kidding. In the Philippines, girls have their debut at 18, but here they have it at 20. It's called the seijin-no-hi, the "Coming-of-Age" ceremony. People here don't celebrate it like how we do. Big banquets, parties, no they don't do that here. Here all the people who have turned 20 or will turn 20 gather together for a half-an-hour ceremony. Of course, the main attraction is all the girls turn out in their best kimonos.

Annie and I got an invitation to this event, so off we went, even if we didn't have kimonos (coz they are freakin' expensive). The Yokohama Ceremony was held at the Yokohama Arena, near Shin-Yokohama Station. This place is also where the International Stadium Yokohama is located. This was built especially for Football World Cup 2002! (Whhheeeeeeeeeee! I'll definitely check out that place one of these days!) Anyways, Annie wore a suit, I wore a dress. All the other girls were wearing all these pretty kimonos, it was amazing. Silk and colors everywhere! Most of the guys were wearing suits, but some were wearing the traditional Japanese costume for males. I don't know how that is called. =P

We sat there, and then people came on to talk. The 20-year-olds who go there don't need to do anything. They just sit and listen. Annie likened it to a graduation, only they have to wear fancy outfits. Hehehe. The funny thing was though, the first guy who had his speech, talked about something really weird. Guess what he talked about? I know you won't be able to. He said that he went to the Philippines, and he talked about Smoky Mountain. How random is that? And WHAT THE? He talked about garbage! We really didn't understand everything he said but we could pick out the words. Philippines, Smoky Mountain, and garbage all throughout his speech. GAH! That is just so weird. Sooo sooo weird!

Over the past month, I did a lot of other fun things. Did you know that I have seen the Japanese Imperial Family? Bet you didn't! Well, I have! Heh heh heh. December 23 was the emperor's birthday, and during this day, the royal family always appears outside their home for a viewing. Yep, that's them in the picture above.

That's the Tokyo Tower in all it's blazing glory. I was roaming around Tokyo's Roponggi district last New Year's eve with April, Bobet, and my friend from IRC, Morigen, so we went up to the Tokyo Tower to take pictures. The tower's lights are turned off at different times of the day and night each day and Annie told me that legend has it that if you go the tower with the one you love and all the lights turn off while you're there, the two of you will be together forever. GYAA! Heh heh heh. Interesting, huh?