A photo book of my mother's 77th birthday (kijyu) visit to the U.S. in May 2008 from Japan.

Created as a memoir of her trip for my family members.

BACKGROUND INFO:

Longevity is celebrated in Japan and one’s sixtieth birthday is celebrated enthusiastically as one of the long life celebrations and is called "Kanreki".

60 years around the astrological wheel, back to the beginning as designated by Japanese Astrology.

Each year is assigned one of the animals, and every twelve years, you come back to your "year": Year of the Dog, Year of the Dragon, Year of the Monkey, etc.

But what makes kanreki special is that you've come around to the same day that you were born on, according to the Japanese zodiac.

The Japanese celebrate their 60th birthday as a special one and there was a custom of giving a red hood and the red padded sleeveless Kimono jacket called a chan-chanko.

More recently, 61 years old is considered to still be young and in active service unlike in ancient times.

Other milestone birthdays celebrated at this time are:

70 years old (koki); 77 years old (kijyu); 80 years old (sanjyu); 88 years old (beijyu); 90 years old (senjyu); 99 years old (beijyu); 100 years old (hyakujyu).