Happy 20th Birthday to Chikara!

I used to live with my host family before I moved to the apartment I live in now. Chikara, one of my japanese friends, lived there before I had come to the U.S. so they are also his family.

Today, we had his birthday party together because we are like a family. We held the party at our host sister's house and had big dinner there. My host sister grilled lamb and vegetables and my host mother made a birthday cake to him, and I LOVED these delicious foods! They are good at cooking. It has been for while since I saw them last time, so I really enjoyed today's dinner with my american family and talking with them. I like this kind of family gathering, because I live in the apartment now almost alone. (I get along with my roommate but we're not very close.)

By the way, He turned 20 years old. That reminded me of my Hatachi memory. Hatachi means 20 years old. It means a lot for japanese people, because a 20-year-old person is considered as an adult and he/she can drink and smoke and whatever he/she wants to unless breaking the law or being selfish by their responsibility. We have a big ceremony for 20-year-old people in Japan. It is called Seijin-shiki. Seijin means an adult and Shiki means a ceremony. Each city has its own ceremony, but usually they attend their hometown city's ceremony. They can see old friends again and celebrate being 20 years old together. We also put on Japanese traditional clothing, Kimono or Hakama. The picture on your left is Kimono I wore about 2 years ago when I was 20 years old.


After the ceremony, in my case, I drank so hard with my old friends. We were all crazy but that was fabulous memory for me. Thinking of Seijin-shiki, I miss my old friends and my hometown. Do you have any special ceremony of being an adult in your county? How do you celebrate? I'd like to know interesting ceremonies all over the world :)