Trial Joint Coming-of-Age Ceremony Set for Next Spring — Humans, Beastfolk and Robots Under One Roof

Mayor Motoko Ukai's long-championed joint coming-of-age ceremony, whose planning had dragged on amid unsettled beastfolk clan customs and the still-undecided legal status of robots, will finally get its first trial run at the Fukagawa Civic Center on Coming-of-Age Day next January, the city announced on the 14th. "We're envisioning full implementation as early as 2028, with next spring strictly a scaled-down trial," the city said. At a press conference, Ukai said, "I always say to look at the numbers before making noise, but I decided this was something worth trying once before the numbers come in."

The ceremony will, in principle, be open to human, beastfolk and genetically designed-generation citizens turning twenty as of next January. Since symbiotic robots have no concept of "coming of age," the plan under discussion has them represented not through robots "attending" in person, but through the owners or operators of units marking the tenth anniversary of their service, with the honored unit itself placed in the hall. A city official explained, "There were views on both sides — that including robots as subjects of the ceremony is difficult while their legal status remains undecided, and that there ought to be some occasion to mark a ten-year milestone. This is where we landed."

What pushed the trial forward, the city said, was the previously reported joint autumn festival held by Fukagawa's dog- and bear-lineage neighborhood associations. Tamaki Hiiragi, 29, of bear lineage, one of the festival's joint organizers, recalled, "At the festival, I watched children from different clans listening to the same drum interval together for the first time. Organizers started asking whether a coming-of-age ceremony could do something similar." A city official also acknowledged that the previously reported interest from other districts in the festival's model helped move concrete planning for the joint ceremony forward.

One citizen turning twenty next year, a 19-year-old of the genetically designed generation, said, "My generation looks almost entirely human, so I don't think I'll stand out at the ceremony either way, but I'm simply glad to attend the same ceremony as my beastfolk friends." Another, a 19-year-old second-generation Drifter woman, said, "At a ceremony limited to one's own local clan, some years it's all unfamiliar faces anyway. A ceremony where all kinds of people mix might actually feel more relaxed."

The previously reported Fukagawa joint autumn festival drew a string of inquiries from associations in other districts about how it was run, and next year Kameido's fox-lineage association is set to join the joint festival as well. A city official said, "This joint ceremony, too, remains limited to a trial at the Fukagawa Civic Center, but we'll consider requests to take part from other districts from next year onward." On the fact that rites marking adulthood differ from clan to clan among beastfolk, the official explained, "Rather than unifying the whole ceremony, we're arranging it so that after a shared program, there's time set aside for anyone who wants it to carry out their own clan's customs voluntarily."

Details of the program and how to apply will be announced again in November. The city said it remains a trial, with adjustments to follow next year if issues arise, and that how robots are represented will be finalized with an eye on how the national Robot Legal Status Council's debate unfolds. Ukai closed by saying, "I have no intention of making this a ceremony that surprises anyone. Not being surprised is, if anything, exactly what this city is about."