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