Not entirely random questions

[thuviaptarth]

I swear I did try to google it, but I couldn't find the right search terms. Four not entirely unrelated questions:

1. Do people have birthday parties with their friends in Japan, a la Western tradition (drinking, presents, etc.), or is it just the more formal dressing up and visiting shrines thing?
   
2. Are birthdays determined by the Japanese or Western calendar?
   
3. How would you take care of academics for a kid with theater/music job? I.e., in the U.S. child actors with regular jobs usually end up with private tutors and take standardized exams; is there a Japanese equivalent? Or do kids just drop high school if they're over 14, since it's optional?
   
4. Where would one post Gravitation fic?
   

Comments

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Dunno about 3. As far as 2, it's by the Western calendar, as basically these days the only "Japanese" part of the calendar in daily use is the reign year of the emperor, and that increments on January 1, just as it would in the Western system.
1 depends on the age of the person in question. Omiya-mairi is generally something that kids get dragged to on specific birthdays, and that older people might do.

In older days, there used to be a system of incrementing age on the new year, which also is, I believe, an old Chinese tradition. The other significant age thing in Japan is the 20th year, where there's a national celebration for the new adults.

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That's very helpful.

I did see the 20th year celebration mentioned, and references to an older (obsolete) 3-5-7 celebration, which is one reason I thought I should double-check the rest of it.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

It's actually 7-5-3, for some reason. I don't know that it's obsolete, it's just not very "hip and happening".

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Rich kids will have Western-style birthday parties as a status symbol sort of thing-- who comes and how many presents you get is a popularity determinant.

Adults are more likely to get small gifts from acquaintances and congratulatory pats on the back.

Is your Gravi fic NC-17, or does it have a lower rating?

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

I would be very surprised if it went above G. Well, maybe PG-13 for cursing, if anyone cares about that. I have a horrible time rating things. But no sex, no violence, no pairings except as a background thing.

*sigh* No one is going to read this.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

If it's under NC-17, you do still have the option of the generalized evilness that is fanfiction.net. They are evil, evil, evil webmaster-types over there, but it *will* acquire an audience, if you can stomach posting it that way. I would also suggest trying a Gravi LJ community.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

7-5-3 (shichi-go-san) is celebrated in the fall, when parents take their five-year-old boys and seven and three-year-old girls to shrines, dressed in adorable fancy kimonos. It's still celebrated, but it's definitely a kiddie thing. (If you want to see photos, I'll bring my album to NYC.)

Sorry, I don't have answers for your other questions.

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

That is very helpful, though. (This *wasn't* the story for which I was asking earlier research help, btw, which is original sf and proceeding slowly.)