The Tanjyoubi!

Here is exactly how I celebrated my bithday in Japan...

First, let me say that I wasn't really looking to celebrate my birthday, I didn't really care at all. On the 29th, I actually had forgotten that my birthday was the next day... anyway...

Once a year my host family's extended family from Tokyo comes and visits. This year it was on April 30th. We went out to an incredibly expensive, incredibly delicious Japanese style restaurant called "Hari Hari." We were put in our own small room with a very low table. Under the table the floor is dug out and you put your feet below. My hostaunt, two host uncles, and two host cousins were there. My host mom, host sister, host dad, and host grandma... I guess I could have left off the word "Host" for all of those and you would have gotten the idea, but...it's too late to go back.

All your food comes on separate plates. One small plate with sushi, one with some vegetables, a small bowl of soup, etc. You get ten or eleven different plates of food. It's a lot like eating at my grandma's house where each thing requires it's own plate. (The land where a sandwich, an apple, blueberrys, chips and cheese can never share one plate. Clearly each one necessitates it's own resting area.) I was wished happy birthday by everyone and my host grandma got her mothers day wishes because everyone was around. Following lunch we went downstairs in the building to a fancy cafe/cake restaurant. We drank coffee and orange juice and they brought me out a big cake covered in delicious fruits (not a fruit cake) and then my host-extended-family gave me expensive chocolates and some nice little tea treats. We took some pictures, chatted and then we went to my host familys house. Here we talked, drank tea, I played piano for them, we watched TV and it was nice.

At about 4pm, I met up with my friends and we went to a kaitenzushi (the place where the sushi travels around the little moving sidewalk thingy on little plates.) I ate 12 plates (about 20 pieces of sushi), and a piece of cake. I felt so sick. All of my friends were mostly out traveling so I was only with my friend Lisa and my friend matt but it was really nice keeping it low key. Sometimes it's really difficult to go out here because everyone always wants to come and it ends up being a big a group and everything gets harder when there's too many people. It's not that it's BAD with a lot of people, it's just a little much at times. We walked around and drank some soda. That was it. It was a relatively low-key birthday which is just how I like it. I couldn't have been happier.

Today, however, my friend Jessica wanted to celebrate (she's a very motherly friend) and so she invited a bunch of people out to lunch (The same Kaitenzushi..I could barely eat there after eaching all those sushi last time.) It ended up being me, Jessica, and 4 Japanese girls from school. Lunch was good because we all just talked. They gave me some Japanese Mochi-Ice Cream. After we went downtown to Sakae and they went shopping. How I end up getting stuck with girls who want to shop is beyond me. I've had years of practice though, growing up with two sisters and my mom. I wandered around and watched them all touch various articles of clothing while they considered buying it... it was entertaining. I had fun... but...I don't really think any males idea of a fun birthday celebration is watching girls shop. No offense. I still had fun though.

Thanks for any birthday wishes I recieved from anyone! I will surely see everyone soon (The unfortunate countdown has begun...About 28 days left.) Part of my wants to stay forever but part of me is a little tired of being an extreme outsider, it's a very interesting feeling. It's strange coming from America. I realize now how blind people often are to other people's race because we are so used to seeing all different kinds of people. Again, thanks everyone.

-Mike