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