Kiss Day

What Is Kiss Day?

Every May 23rd is "Kiss Day" (キスの日, Kisu no Hi) in Japan. The date commemorates May 23, 1946, when the Japanese film "Hatachi no Seishun" (はたちの青春, "Youth at Twenty") was released — featuring what is considered Japan's first on-screen kiss. In a country where on-screen kissing had been virtually unseen, the scene caused a sensation and came to symbolize the new era of postwar Japan.

Japan's First On-Screen Kiss

"Hatachi no Seishun" was directed by Yasushi Sasaki (佐々木康) for Shochiku, and the kiss was performed by Michiko Ikuno (幾野道子) and Shiro Osaka (大坂志郎). The kiss scene is said to have been added at the request of an officer of the Occupation's Civil Information and Education Section (CIE). According to popular accounts, the actors had a piece of gauze between their lips during filming. Although the film was promoted as Japan's first kissing film, some point out that Ikuno had already appeared in a kiss scene in the short film "Nikoniko Taikai: Oitsu Owaretsu," directed by Yuzo Kawashima and released in January 1946.

Changing Attitudes Toward Public Affection

The 1946 film kiss was a small but symbolically large step in Japan's postwar cultural transformation. In the decades that followed, physical affection between couples has become increasingly visible in Japanese films, television dramas, and public life — though Japan remains more reserved about public displays of affection than many Western societies. The "first kiss" (初キス, hatsu kisu) remains a significant narrative moment in Japanese romantic drama, invested with a particular cultural weight.

Kiss Day Today

Today, Kiss Day is often introduced in Japan as a day to think about expressing affection to loved ones, and as a piece of film history trivia.

Fun Facts

• The director: Yasushi Sasaki also directed "Soyokaze" (1945), whose theme song "Ringo no Uta" became a huge postwar hit.
• International Kiss Day: July 6th is recognized internationally as "International Kissing Day" or "World Kiss Day," a separate observance from Japan's May 23rd Kiss Day.
• Japanese film censorship: Under the wartime Film Law (映画法, 1939), film content in Japan was tightly controlled. The postwar liberalization of censorship, guided by the U.S. Occupation authorities, dramatically transformed the content of Japanese cinema.