Best 24th Birthday Ever in Japan

A few weeks ago I turned 24 and celebrated my birthday Japan-style. There really isn't much to say or brag about when turning 24 - there is no "Sweet 24" and I have been 21 for a few years now so there really isn't any need for a celebratory drink. If anything, turning 24 gave me a weird, slightly apathetic feeling of being excited for all of the things to come in my future and horrified that I am not further along in my life and career despite being older than some grad students. -__-
Despite these feelings, I decided to have a great birthday, because I am turning a year older in JAPAN of all places and there was NO WAY I was going to not have a good time. My plans for the big day (well, the entire week actually) was to head over to a Cat Cafe in Tokyo with some friends, take adorable purikura, hit up a club in Tokyo and the next day, make my first (but not last) visit to the Mega Pokemon Center in Tokyo.

Here are some pics from my amazing birthday week:

Taking purikura. The middle picture with glasses is my absolute favorite!

Later on I went to my first cat cafe. Meow.

That night, we hit up the club. Lots of cute guys, weird middle aged men obviously on the hunt for some young *ahem,* many drunk guys (including one drunk US navy guy who disrespected me and I had to curse out. Whoops!) partied with us all night long. Fun was had by all!!!

Finally, my birthday wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Mega Pokemon Center. I collected all the Poke Gear that could be bought with $50 (alas this was all that was left in my wallet). The Pokemon Center is actually not a Pokemon Center but a regular store with tons of Pokemon merchandise. Sadly, there are no Nurse Joys', Officer Jennys', Ash Pokemon hats or even Poke balls available. The store itself was smaller than I envisioned and really crowded on the day I visited. On the bright side, there were many people of all ages there - from small kids to grown a** men - which made me feel a lot less of a loser for still being obsessed with Pokemon in my now mid-20's. The merchandise was all very cute and squeal-worthy, but unfortunately featured almost none of the original 150 Pokemon (save for Pikachu) that we all know and love . For example, finding any Dragonite, Ditto, or Lapras dolls and other merchandise was all but impossible :( Booo. Nevertheless, I'll come back and shop again because, well, POKEMON!!

A few days later, my tutor Mizuho gave me a mini-belated birthday baking party where we enjoyed baked enchiladas and choco cake. I even got a cute birthday mug as a present! Thank you Mizuho!

Overall, I had a amazing birthday and I am soo very blessed that I was able to celebrate it in Japan.

じゃまた,

Ashia A.

Posing with my Elmo :D

Very Busy Times Up Ahead

Today's post will be brief due to all of the activity coming up in the next few weeks :)

Tomorrow (Feb. 8th) is my birthday - my very first birthday in Japan!! I'll be turning 24 (so basically I am a fossil) and I can't wait to celebrate with my friends in Japan. The plans so far are to head out to Tokyo today and chill with some kitties at a cat cafe, take some super かわいい(cute) purikura pictures with all of the girls and then go out to a Tokyo club. On my actual birthday, we are heading to the Mega Pokemon Center in Tokyo, wherein I intend to catch ALL of the Pokemon. ALL OF DEM!!

After my birthday on Sunday, I'll be having a mini belated birthday celebration with my awesome Japanese tutors.  We'll be baking cake and enchiladas, because nothing says happy birthday like enchiladas and cake! However, birthday fun DOESN'T STOP THERE!!! The next day, Rochelle and I will be heading off to visit Korea for a few days!! We'll be able to meet up with friends from Sac State studying abroad at Yonsei University in Korea and do some sightseeing, shopping, trying out authentic Korean food. Apparently Korea also has a Taco Bell (Japan does not, CURSES!), therefore you can probably deduce where my first stop will be.

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!! - A few days after Korea, we will be heading to Okinawa!! This trip is actually included with the CSU IP Program so I'll be going along with all of the CSU students studying abroad in Japan this year. It will be lots of fun!

So, as you can see I have a lot of activity coming up in the next few weeks. I'll make sure to write all about it in due time.

Cheers to another year better, older & wiser!!

My friends Matt and Suzi's farewell party on February 6th. What awesome friends I have!

Stay Tuned.


じゃまた

Ashia A.