Monday was the holiday known as Seijin no Hi here in Japan, usually translated as Coming of Age Day. This is an important holiday in Japan. It is the day when one is traditionally considered to be an adult. Anyone who turned 20 recently or will be turning 20 soon dresses in nice clothing and goes to the local temple to pray. Women generally wear nice, vibrant kimono with fluffy, white scarves and men sometimes wear Japanese traditional clothing but these days mostly just wear suits. Afterwards, there is usually a public party along with many private celebrations. Just like turning 21 in America, turning 20 is the age when one can legally drink, so oftentimes there are boisterous celebrations involving youths drinking “for the first time” and sake is also a common gift on the day. As of last year, the Japanese government lowered the age of adulthood to 18, instead of the traditional age of 20. This has led to some confusion as to who should be celebrating the day: people who turned 18 or people who turned 20. In any case, the drinking age remains 20, and some of my students were upset, saying when they celebrate their Coming of Age Day in a few years, they want to be able to go out drinking!
Unfortunately, I ended up being a bit disappointed on Monday. I went out on Sunday night, knowing I would have the day off Monday, being a national holiday. I learned that on Sado the traditional Coming of Age Day isn’t celebrated in January, but in August. I was told that the weather is too cold in January, so they prefer to celebrate in the summer. Fair enough, as it has been very cold recently. Of course, bringing up Coming of Age Day that night elicited nostalgic responses from everyone in the restaurant about their own experiences turning 20 and how they celebrated the day. It was fun, but I was a bit disappointed, because I wanted to see the local celebrations. I suppose I will just have to wait until August.
In other news, I came across my first mukade in my home while living here. When living in rural Japan, one thing that perhaps is overlooked at first is the amount of bugs. Japan is absolutely crawling with insects. I don’t know if it’s the humid weather or what but finding large insects in your home is just part of the experience of living here. Mukade are giant centipedes (interestingly enough, the Japanese word for them is rendered as 百足, which also means “100 legs/feet”). They actually represent evil in Shintoism, that’s how derided they are. They are aggressive and can grow as long as a foot. You wouldn’t be faulted for mistaking some of the larger ones for a snake at first glance! They are venomous as well, and while they’re not dangerous to humans, I’ve heard their bite is excruciatingly painful. Luckily, I was able to spot this one and sprayed it with the bug poison my fellow teachers wisely advised me to invest in. When I went to the local restaurant afterwards, they all concluded it was quite rare to come across one in January and one patron declared that I must be “lucky,” he said, his sarcasm palpable. Supposedly, the peak season is the monsoon months of May and June, so I guess I have that to look forward to. It appears that I’m just going to have to get comfortable with the fact that I’ll probably have more insects than I’d like making their home inside mine in the near future. Things no one tells you before moving to Japan, huh? In any case, everything is going well at work. I’m getting used to teaching and getting better at preparing activities for all my classes. It feels good to be settling into more of a routine here.
Sam in Japan 
What a wonderful way to honor young people entering adulthood. I wish our culture had more rituals like this preserved from ancient times. That centipede, though…yikes!! Not sure I could sleep so well after seeing that in my apartment. Hope you are!!
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Yes, I’ve been a little on edge since then, haha.
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Hi Buddy, I am glad to hear that you are getting used to teaching and glad to hear about the festival of coming to age too, we also in our Indian culture something similar ceremony but it is for more religious purpose where u hv to start praying regularly and have few thread are knit together and tied around ur shoulder up to ur waist.
And another common thing is the centepids or murder are very common in South India I think they are mostly found in costal climate and yes the bite and also can get inside ur ears while ur are asleep so just make sure that they are not near or by ur bed and keep ur appt clean with no clutter
Lastly thank you very much for the sharing japanese culture knowledge and also for the pictures,let it keep coming as ur writing is very good and very detailed .
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Sorry the mukade got auto corrected to murder.
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Hi Sam! Thank you so very much for your posts on life in Japan! I am really enjoying hearing about it all and am so glad you’re finally settling into Japan life for sure! Those kimonos on the Coming of Age Day are so beautiful! It’s also nice to hear that you’re finding your way with being an english teacher! After having taught for 14 years – it takes ALOT of prep work to come up with learning activities that are really good. I’m sure you’ve looked up and found lots of things online to help you. We always had ESL or ELL (english as a second language or english language learners) at every school where I taught and there are some fantastic websites that I’m sure could give you great ideas. Jim and I are doing fine although we’re both getting over NASTY colds (tested neg for covid so far). And we’ve finally been getting some sunshine during these winter days, a welcome intervention for sure:) Also, so glad we don’t have those big ass centipedes here in PDX – GOOD LORD I would be freaking out if one of those was crawling around in my home. I bet you “sprayed it good”! Hope none of those reappear, what a lucky man you are;) Best wishes, Karen Brunke
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Thank you! Yes, this short time here has already given me more respect for the work teachers do. I just never understood the amount of time and effort it takes to create lessons and activities that will keep kids engaged in learning and that will hopefully be something they enjoyed doing. Also the full time teachers at my schools work very hard. They are all there in the morning when my shift starts, and are still there in the evening when my day is over, and always seem very busy at their desks between class times, and most of them help out with school clubs as well. The internet has been a super helpful resource definitely, but so have all the other English teachers here. They are all very nice and willing to help plan lessons and share ideas and activities. I hope Jim and yourself are feeling better now. Thanks again for reading and for the comment! Hope everything is going well.
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Yikes! What a terrifying insect. I really like the painting of the samurai battling a mukade. When Eva and I were in Hawaii late last year, we observed that chickens really love to eat centipedes and small frogs. Perhaps you could keep a little chicken caged up in your apartment just for when you find your next mukade!
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I’ve honestly considered getting a chicken! In the mean time, I’ve bought all kinds of poisons and traps designed to keep them out. There’s a whole industry around keeping these guys and other crawlies out of your home.
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