Alabama Boy Will Turn 12 On 12/12/12 At 12:12 PM

Birmingham, AL — An Alabama boy will be celebrating a very unique birthday Wednesday. In a case of extreme synchronicity, Kiam Moriya will be turning 12 on December 12, 2012.

Moriya said his friends tend to be skeptical when he tells them about all of the 12s surrounding his birthdate.

“Most of them didn’t believe me,” he said. But his New York state birth certificate backs up the rare occurrence, and even throws one more unbelievable factor into the mix: Moriya’s time of birth was 12:12 pm.

If you factor in his parents’ ties to Japan, there are even more 12s surrounding Moriya’s birth. His father, Kazuo Moriya, was born in Tokyo, and his mother, Tamara Moriya, is the executive director of the Japan-America Society of Alabama.

Tamara Moriya said the Japanese count the years by the number of years since the beginning of the emperor’s reign. The year her son was born was the twelfth year of the reign of the current emperor — whose posthumous name will be Heisei — so 2000 is known as “Heisei 12.”

Kiam Moriya said he’s been aware of the rarity of his birthday “ever since I’ve had my memory.” He said he’s been looking forward to the his coming birthday for a long time.

“It’s like one minute out of a whole lifetime,” he said. “You know, it’s all 12s.”

Kazuo Moriya said he thinks there is a spiritual significance behind his son’s birth. His wife wasn’t due to give birth until late January or early February. But for reasons unknown by even the doctors, Tamara Moriya’s water broke almost eight weeks early.

Kiam Moriya weighed 4 pounds and 10 ounces when he was born and spent about 10 days in an incubator. His father said he was fine otherwise.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were about 4 million babies born in the United States in 2000, with an average of about 11,000 babies per day. Over the course of a 1,440-minute day, there were about eight babies born in a given minute.

Instead of having a cake, the Moriyas will be having Krispy Kreme donuts in the shape of a 12 to mark the occasion.

“When I’m turning 12, it’s going to be nothing but 12s,” Kiam Moriya said.