a yesterday’s paper had a short article about the coming-of-age ceremony in a large city in japan. according to the article, the mayor of the city formally apologized to an enraged professor who delivered a speech at the ceremony that was all but ignored by 20-year-olds in the city. the officials prepared 7,000 seats in a gymnasium where the ceremony was held for the 17,000 twenty-year-olds residing in the city. but most of the seats were empty during the speech. and many of the 20-year-olds who did show up ignored the professor and spoke among themselves or talked on their mobile phones. some even made a ruckus outside the gymnasium.