My dad turned 60 last night, so we had a big party for him to celebrate his kanreki. In Japan, turning 60 is a major big deal. It's when your life has come full circle, when the clock resets and you start a new cycle of life. Interestingly it's usually only a major celebration for males—I guess women don't want to celebrate turning 60, not so much. One of the traditions honored at kanreki is the wearing of a red chanchanko, a padded sleeveless kimono jacket with a matching silly hat (no, that's not my dad in the pic.) Red in Japanese is aka. Akachan is the word for baby. So it's a play on words signifying that the person is back to baby status.
So now that my dad's a baby again, I am going to go back into my little cocoon and wait 30 years to be born. Bye bye!
This is a good explanation of the kanreki...I went to my first one last year and didn't quite follow the description that my supervisor gave...she was a bit tipsy. Thanks!
Posted by: setagaya-optimist | September 24, 2008 at 01:38 AM
Congrats on his b-day!
Posted by: Mosquito_Ace | September 24, 2008 at 03:34 AM
Congrats!!!
Posted by: Dragonfang18 | September 25, 2008 at 07:34 PM
The fun part of being "Over the hill" as we call it in the US is ya pick up speed... The down side is ya can't steer so good...
Posted by: William | September 25, 2008 at 10:49 PM