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Mt. Fuji schoolgirl photo models who charmed Japan years ago reunite to celebrate Coming of Age Day

Casey Baseel Jan 11, 2023
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Shizuoka road continues to be one of the most photogenic spots in all of Japan.

Two years ago, Japanese photographer Shinnosuke Uchida, who goes by @SinPictures on Twitter, took the Internet’s breath away with a photograph of two smiling young ladies in schoolgirl uniforms walking along a road in the Miho neighborhood of Shizuoka City. “Miho high school girls have the most photogenic daily lives in Japan,” Uchida tweeted along with the photo, in which Mt. Fuji stands majestically in the not-so-far-off background, towering over Miho’s modestly sized buildings.

But though Mt. Fuji is the most dynamic part of the composition, what really made an impression on people was how the photo immediately established a feeling of friendship between the two girls. With one of them striking a pose while perched on the divider between the street and sidewalk, the other holding her arm so she doesn’t lose her balance, and both of them laughing in the soft light of the late afternoon, the photo perfectly captures the kind of silly random fun that good friends share in the unhurried days of youth, moments that are at once both pointless in purpose but deeply meaningful in memories.

Those are the kind of experiences we have less and less chances to enjoy as we get older and busier. Adding an extra dash of bittersweetness it that the photo was taken in March, shortly before the end of the Japanese school year, and it’s not uncommon for even the closest of high school friends to lose touch with one another and drift apart after graduating and moving away for college or work.

But Monday was Coming of Age Day in Japan, when people who have turned 20 during the past year come back to their home towns to attend celebratory ceremonies in their honor, and Uchida had a new picture to share.

Yes, that’s the exact same two people, in the exact same poses at the exact same spot along the section of Shizuoka Prefectural Road 199 called the Miho Kaido. Instead of school uniforms, this time they’re wearing kimono with flowing furisode sleeves, the customary attire for women at coming of age ceremonies, but though their clothing may be different, the feeling of friendship is unchanged from two years ago.

▼ “It’s been two years. The Miho schoolgirls are having the most photogenic Coming of Age Day in Japan.”

あれから二年。
三保の女子高生は
日本一映える
成人の日を迎えた pic.twitter.com/cpcsUawPsm

— うちだしんのすけ (@SinPictures) January 9, 2023

The sense of heartwarming reunion in the new photo has touched Twitter commenters, who have reacted with;

“I still remembered the photo of them in uniform, so it’s such an emotional moment to see them together again.”
“Ah man, I think I’m going to cry.”
“That photo is too amazing. Can’t look at it directly.”
“So many feels.”
“I hope you’ll take another photo of them in that spot 10 years from now, then another in 20, and on and on forever.”

Other commenters also pointed the new tempura bowl set meal (天丼セット) sign the restaurant they’re standing next to has put out, and also that there seems to be more snow at the top of Mt. Fuji in the March/school uniform photo than the January/kimono one. However, Uchida says that this has always been the case with Mt. Fuji, and that it gets its densest snowpack in April of each year.

富士山の積雪量を見て昨年3月に比べて今年1月の積雪量が少ないことから「温暖化」等を心配される声がありますが、実はこれ通常の量です。
富士山と共に暮らす静岡民でも意外と気づいてない事実。
一年のうち4月の積雪量が一番多いとこちらに書かれていますでご参考まで！https://t.co/pi3wwTQJgR pic.twitter.com/lYecKgLUSa

— うちだしんのすけ (@SinPictures) January 9, 2023

▼ Another shot of the pair

別バージョンも撮りました！
モデルの二人はこちらの写真の方がお気に入りとのことでした^_^
新成人の皆さん、本当におめでとうございます㊗️ pic.twitter.com/RRhRmQE8OQ

— うちだしんのすけ (@SinPictures) January 9, 2023

Uchida refers to the women in the photos as “models,” though without specifying if that’s in the sense of “people who earn money by being in photographs” or just “people who agreed to be in a photograph.” As such, it’s unclear whether they’re actually high school friends reuniting for the first time in years on Coming of Age Day or simply two talented professionals. Either way, we’re not going to be forgetting either picture anytime soon, and hopefully we’ll see them again at another of life’s major milestones.

Source: Twitter/@SinPictures via IT Media
Images: Twitter/@SinPictures
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