Japan has lowered the age of adulthood from 20 to 18, but young people who reach the milestone when the change goes into effect in 2022 won’t be able to celebrate with a few glasses of sake. At least not legally.



The revision to the civil code, the first of its kind for more than 140 years, will allow all 18-year-olds to marry without their parents’ consent. Currently, men aged 18 and women aged 16 can marry, but only with the permission of both sets of parents.

They will also be able to apply for credit cards and loans, and obtain a passport valid for 10 years. Transgender men and women over 18 will be able to apply to courts to have their gender officially recognised.

But the newly recognised adults will indulge in some rites of passage at their own risk: they will still have to wait until they are 20 to drink, smoke and bet on Japan’s four legalised forms of gambling: horse, bicycle, motorcycle and motorboat races.

The change has created confusion over the annual Coming of age day, when men and women who have turned 20 during the previous 12 months put on their finest kimono, attend ceremonies and celebrate with their first legal drink.



Local media reported on concerns over the effect the new law could have on Japan’s already ailing kimono industry if ceremonies are held for those who have turned 18 rather than 20.

The coming of age celebration, held on the second Monday of January, falls around the time that many 18-year-olds are cramming for university entrance exams.

Hidemitsu Miyamoto, the president of a kimono shop, was among those who feared teenagers would be too preoccupied with their academic futures to attend the ceremony, meaning they won’t need to rent or buy one of the expensive garments.

“The coming of age ceremony has been something of a final stronghold for our industry’s survival at a time when fewer and fewer people wear kimono, presenting what is perhaps the only opportunity for young people, especially women, to wear the attire,” Miyamoto told the Japan Times.

The change in the law, first suggested by the justice ministry in 2009, is intended to encourage young people’s participation in society and the economy, especially in light of the growing number of people aged 65 and over.

Japan lowered the voting age from 20 to 18 in 2015, giving 2.4 million teenagers the right to vote in upper house elections the following year.