[masaegu]

Had you been here 20 years ago during the Bubble Period, you would have seen a lot of the guys in Armani and Gucci suits attending the ceremony. Even back then, though, it was always the girls in colorful kimono that stole the scene.

On a random note, I was just reading the website of my own ward Shinjuku and noticed something interesting. Of the 3,162 "new adults" that attended the ward ceremony today, 645 were non-Japanese residents. That is 20% of the group and I think it's indicative of where Japan as a country is headed in the way of ethnic demography in our own time.