Japanese students gathered on Saturday to celebrate Coming of Age Day — a traditional ceremony, originating over 1300 years ago, to mark turning 20, the country’s age of maturity.
The event was held in Dunedin at Stuart Hall behind Knox Church, with help from the Dunedin-Otaru Sister City Society.
Event organiser Shion Hashimoto said many of the 40 attendees were exchange students from Japanese universities at the University of Otago.
It meant a lot to them all to be able to celebrate in Dunedin, he said.
Sister city society secretary Nathan Woodfield said if you were out of Japan, you missed it.
"It’s a public holiday there as well for everyone to be able to go — it’s quite special because it’s a bit of a reunion for students because they would have been away for two years and come back home for it."
He said it was a chance to see see friends, family and the peers that they grew up with.
In Japan, the day was held annually on the second Monday of January.
It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have already reached the age of maturity, between April 2 of the previous year and April 1 of the present year.
Mr Woodfield said this was the third event and unlike in Japan, it was organised by the students themselves.
"It is a black, white and pink theme this year — New Zealand and Japanese colours — to mix the two cultures."
The ceremony in Dunedin involved people aged 18 to 21.
Mr Woodfield said this was due to parts of Japan deciding to allow different ages to participate after the voting age was lowered to 18 in 2022.
The ceremony featured a speech from Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker and a koto (traditional Japanese instrument) performance.
