Seijin no Hi

Hey Nick, long time no see!

You may not know this but today is 成人の日 ("Seijin no Hi," or Coming of Age Day), which is meant to “congratulate and encourage” those who have reached the “age of majority” (which is 20 years old in Japan)

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_of_age_day

¹. 20 seems really “late” for a C-O-A celebration that dates back to the 8th century, but having seen the way high school kids—emphasis on “kids”—are treated it shouldn’t come as any real surprise.

In honor of this auspicious holiday, I have committed myself to a new day planner

² It’s a very adult thing, I assure you.

². Though, really, I had a very nice calendar that I bought when I first moved to Japan, that was inauspiciously thrown out with the gift-wrapping while I was in Torrance for Christmas last week.

Regardless, I found myself back at Tokyu Hands slogging through the mounds of day planner options: full spread monthlies, vertical weekles, horizontal dailies, calendars with hourly listings or to-do lists. The options were seemingly endless

³ And frivolous.

³.

Step #1 in picking the perfect personal calendar, according to About.com, was to "Pick the Right Planner." This would obviously be a crucial step.

For my purposes and sanity, I wanted a simple weekly layout, one that maximized efficiency by limiting memo space. I went back and forth about a vertical weekly and a horizontal weekly, between hourly or lined.

This time I settled for a Takahashi Shoten "Link Up Schedule." A quick scan of their webpage reveals that they have 171 distinct calendar designs. I think it took only 43 tries before they got it right, but I give them credit for trying: each page is broken up into four rows, one for every day of the week with the eighth row on the right hand page given over to extra notes and a monthly view. However, the daily rows are divided into two columns, the right half for memos while the other, a four-panel table.


There was an insert that explained a variety of ways that I could use this table (maybe one pane for AM, one for PM and one for expenses and details), but it was all in kanji. Regardless, it was the versatility of the vague space that captivated me. I am also not one to let the irony of finding blank space marred by two thin lines more versatile than actual "free" blank space, but that’s the way of things: it is the imposition of boundaries that make sports challenging and therefore more interesting.

Granted, I find it annoying that I am not quite sure how I want to use the table: it’s ambiguity laughs in the face of the feeble sense of control that a day-planner pretends to propose. But I love the idea that any unused days can become a CSI-Miami 4-pannel comic

⁴

⁴.

Step 2 of maintaining a successful day planner, again according to About.com, was to name my calendar. I’ll have to commit some thought to that. Though, really, I would have made Step 2 (shortly after the all important first step of actually acquiring a calendar) "be consistent" in application and methodology. Or maybe just "make up reasons to use your brand new archaic calendar to justify the cost."