Celebrating my birthday

I got celebrating my birthday out of the way with my host family, now it was time to really celebrate.

We decided to wait till Thursday to go celebrate seeing that's when we got our all day train passes. Wednesday was the graduation ceremony day for Jouchi, so I got to see everyone in suits and kimonos, it was awesome.




We had a late orientation and I ended up just heading home afterwards, and I think we had Japanese Curry that night, yum. But not after a short trip to Shinjuku, we're we just looked around, but didn't really do anything.



Big building and a giant clock

This Box is MyLord lol (a store in Japan)


We just decided to get back to our host families, lucky it was my transfer station. And on the way home, I took this stellar pic ^^


Thursday came and it was our Tokyo Scavenger hunt. we were given a list of things to find, like a Big Echo Karaoke building, the Statue of the dog that is always waiting, a picture of a police box, and many other things found in Tokyo. We started out getting really into it, we started off going to Harajuku and got a pic of someone in costume, and of course found more crepes, this time I tried the Tiramisu crepe

I know what she's thinking... so many delicious choices heehee



The Genki Ojiisans on the train!... (Japanese guy doesn't care)

but then we made the mistake of making our next big stop in Akihabara, which we had to get a pic of, and we got distracted by all the anime and tech shininess.



We found some cool things and took some goofy pics.



Remi, Zach, and me being welcomed to Akihaba, anime style

I also took pics of Club Sega



and of a Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) poster promoting the new season (drool)


Tommy Lee Jones is the BOSS!



We also looked around forever for a good place to eat, and finally we all split up and I ended up with Shenitra and ate at KFC (very different from the US one, got one with different spices on it and with a teriyaki taste, it was different but tasty... messing with the secret formula, THAT'S MUTINY lol)



We then tried to go back on task and went someone the rest of the group picked, so I had no idea where we went, but we found nothing really there. We were looking for a Shrine but came up empty.

Found a small Shrine, kawaii

We did find some weird things though. Like these fish in the side of the building.


And a shop that sold these Samurai sets for the upcoming Boys Day (they are expensive!)



We had to head back, and we found a Big Echo on the way. It was funny, we had to keep pointing at it for Alicia to take a pic of it, she just didn't get it lol. We turned in our camera and I got some pics of the Sakura at Jouchi



We made it back and we decided to go out again to Shibuya. This place has the Time's Square of Tokyo, and one of the busiest intersections ever.

Many People crossing

Too Many people crossing...


I also saw awesome posters of the Sumo champ promoting Fanta



Found a hidden water way between the building


and this I just found funny


We ate at a Sushi bar, it was really tasty, and I had a bunch of new things, and also Ikura (Roe), Maguro (Tuna), and Unagi (Eel). It was great and each plate was only like 100 yen.


Lots of tasty sushi

We were going to meet up with Ojii at a bar he knew of, it took forever to find him, and when we finally found it, it was really small. So the guys in our group left and we went to another bar we passed with a 1500 yen, 2 hour nomihoudai (all you can drink; too bad it took forever for them to make our orders).

This place was soo nice looking, I was surprised it was so cheap...

The girls were dumb and stayed at the other bar even after we agreed on leaving. The other bar had a cover charge of like 600 yen, and they had to pay a lot more than what we just had to pay, and then they later joined us they they had to pay a lot more. But we ended up drinking some drinks together, and I got a little hungry and ordered a great tasting pizza with a bunch of meats on it.

Me with a bunch of random Japanese girls that were at a table next to ours, we all took pics with them lol

After leaving that place, we walked around and saw all the building at night

found an Outback mate

Some of the other people in our group were a little tipsy, and we took some other pictures together, sadly not with my camera. We stumbled in to a condomania shop, and we ended up looking for another bar. The girls already going to two bars and it getting late went home. Zach, Jim, and I found another bar, and it was expensive so all I got was some Bailey's.

On the way back to the train station, we found some guys giving out free hugs, a friendly way to end an awesome night. (I think some of them were from Jouchi)

My Birthday!

I am now officially 21, which is awesome... if I were in the US. Sadly the big birthday in Japan is 20, missed it by a year. Oh well I got to celebrate my 21st Tokyo style.

Today I went on a Tokyo Bus Tour... I think I've done this before *remembers 3 years ago*

But before that, I met up with my friend Roy, and we grabbed some quick lunch. We ate at the other school cafeteria from the one I ate last time.

This was really good!

Then after forgetting to separate all the stuff from lunch after finishing and being showed by the people who worked there, we set off to the Softbank up the street so Roy could fix his email address on the phone. I also picked up some info on how to get my iPhone.


When we got back it was time to get on the bus.


The bus trip was short, we only got to stop twice,

so we got to ride through many places like the Ginza, the book district, Akihabara, and we got to see a bunch of places along the way like the senate and the American Embassy.

Here is a pic I took while riding on the bus with a lot going on, I see a Sakura tree, a cop, some animal statues, a person in yellow...
Can you guess what this is?

a) Creek
b) Small River
c) pond
d) moat
answer at the bottom

We first stopped at the Imperial Palace, and we walked around the outside.


These trees are amazing, and there are tons of them around the palace gardens. They have to be trimmed every two weeks to keep their shape.


This fish does not exist...


Here are some nice views around the grounds and of our tour.






gates that don't open

We then went across the street to see the Statue of the Samurai




We then went back on the bus and went to the Asokusa bhuddist temple and shopping district.

This is a huge tourist trap but it is still fun. I had fried pumpkin flavored sweet bean paste and sakura ice cream. For my tonjoubi (birthday) I got myself a yukata (a cotton kimono for the Summer which is far cheaper) and a cellphone Domokun charm for my keitai.
Here are some pics from there. Sadly my camera finally died and I couldn't take any more pics :(



Here is the giant Japanese Lantern at the entrance


Zach grabbing on to it


Torii gate of a shrine next to the temple


Pagoda


Many people here


At the entrance wash your hands at this statue

and on the ceiling


Wouldn't want to run into these guys



I GOT A BEST FORTUNE!, my first one ever, way to go for my birthday
(last time I only got bad and worst fortunes)


Some people were happy for me getting a good fortune lol


Other pics



After the bus tour was over, I went directly home to see if my family had any plans for my birthday. They had made me steak for dinner. This steak is from Wagyu beef, a type of cow that belongs to Japan, and it might be small, but the fat unlike in angus beef is all throughout the meat, so it is super flavorful.
They also made me a nice chocolate birthday cake!

And they got me these little sushi and tempura/soba charms, along with a cleanign cloth charm and a Shinjuku keychain.


I'm saving celebrating with my friends till Thursday when we get our JR al day pass.
Also if you guess moat, you were right, it is the man made moat for the Imperial Palace