Across the nation, an estimated 1.2 million young people celebrated becoming an adult on Coming of Age Day on Monday in an annual rite of passage for 20-year-olds that has taken a direct hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.
While many coming-of-age ceremonies were canceled or hosted online, thousands of young men and women dressed in fancy suits and fashionable kimonos, the attire traditionally worn for the adulthood ceremony, gathered in Yokohama on the day to celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime occasion.
This year, Yokohama hosted an event for more than 36,000 new adults, the most of any municipality in the country. The city provided those who hadn’t received a COVID-19 vaccination with an antigen test kit in advance and requested they take the test on Sunday or Monday morning before attending the celebration.