Japan sets aside the second Monday in January as a public holiday to celebrate seijinshiki (coming of age) for young adults. This year anyone turning 20 between April 2, 2014, and April 1, 2015, was eligible to dress up and participate in the festivities.
Twenty not only marks the age when young Japanese can legally smoke, drink and vote (although the minimum voting age is likely to be lowered to 18 from next year), but it is also when the government asks them to start paying into the national pension scheme (kokumin nenkin). This week's question comes from JS, the parent of a Japanese national studying overseas:
Our 20-year-old daughter, who has Japanese citizenship, is currently studying abroad. The local city office sent her a letter telling her to sign up to start paying the pension, and then they sent her nenkin techō (pension booklet). We don't know where she will end up living and working at this stage. On the other hand, just in case she does want to come back and live here in the future, we don't want her to be delinquent in the system.