Yesterday was my 20th birthday! It's quite an important age in Japan; basically the equivalent of the UK's 18. It was strange to come over in August and revert back to legally being a child, but now I've caught up again! 20's also the legal drinking age in Japan, but as a foreigner I never get asked for ID so not a lot will change there...
To celebrate, a group of friends and I went out to Kichijoji. We started off at the Hub British Pub to catch the end of Happy Hour there, which is 5-7. We ended up arriving at about 6:45, so ordered about 6 drinks to each of us whilst they were still cheap! The Japan vs Tajikstan match was on the TVs, and the pub was full of lairy supporters, which did give it a good atmosphere! Although I don't see how the Japanese can be so into football when their national team is so RUBBISH. Anyway, we stayed there until about 8, when our drinks ran out.
By 8 o'clock we were all getting pretty hungry, so we went to an izakaya for some grub and more drinks. We had a whole room to ourselves, with a big, long table for us all to sit round. The table was traditionally low to the floor, and we sat on tatami mats. The horrifying realisation that I would have to sit cross legged and lose all feeling in the lower half of my body hit me just before I noticed that there was space underneath the table to put your legs, just like a normal chair - phew!
The food and drinks kept coming throughout. Without realising it, I ate whale and horse. Hmm. The whale (in sashimi form) was extremely fishy; not too sure if I liked it. The horse was also in sashimi form; raw, with soy sauce to dip in. Unfortunately all I could taste was the bed of sliced onions it was sat on, but I guess the texture was nice! Just like a (very) rare steak! There was plenty of other gorgeous food; I think I may have eaten my own body weight in gyoza. Mmmmm yummy.
The original plan for after the izakaya was to go on to a bar somewhere and have some more drinks, but we ended up staying for hours, and getting very drunk, and also people started having to get off home, so we called it a night! Naturally, we had the usual encounter with drunk Japanese people on the way to the station, including two who liked to tell me I was very cool.
People were kind enough to pay for me, so it was certainly the cheapest night out in Tokyo I've had yet! I should have birthdays more often! Thank you everyone :) The TUFS lot also got me a couple of presents! Certainly wasn't expecting that! They got me some chocolate called Horn (no jokes, please, Kieran's already made them all), and a book! I gave them to Max to put in his bag as I didn't have one with me, but he then disappeared into the night after popping to buy some fags in between Hub and the izakaya and wasn't to be seen again. I guess I'll get them back off him on Monday at ICU then!
I've also been getting some birthday post at home! So far I've got cards from my grandparents and parents, and a fair few other people have stuff en-route to me, and some relatives have put money in my account, too :) with the card, my parents sent me these amaaazing slouchy pants that Mum and Ayu picked out for me :) I love them so much - I really wanted some nice slouchies and these are just the sort of things I was after! They're warm and soft and mmmm :)
Sally was also sweet enough to leave me a little birthday surprise! I opened my bedroom door on Friday morning to go brush my teeth, and there was little bag waiting outside with a beer and a handmade card inside! That was a nice start to my birthday morning :) I put the card along side the other ones I've received so far, and had the beer before meeting everyone in Kichijoji that evening!
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| I love the 3D meerkat card from Mum & Dad hehe |
Thus concludes my birthday! It was a very fun day :) although, I did have exams in the morning...I'll make a proper exam post when I've finished them all next week, though. It's a very strange feeling not to be a teenager any more! I really don't feel like a twenty-something :s
James
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