A week full of celebrations

Hello friends :)

A little warning beforehand: This post might not be very interesting in terms of Japanese experience, especially for those of you who don't know me (well). But it has to be written to capture all the good memories and express my thanks to everyone who made this last week so utterly delightful. It all started on Tuesday, which was my birthday. A cute surprise waited for me once I stepped outside my room: Dozens of balloons in front of my door! Thank you, Essi and Alizée :-*

They are all decorating my room right now

In the evening, we were planning to meet in the lounge and watch our favourite Japanese TV drama (Hana Kimi). I brought some sake, plum wine and snacks, but little did I know that there will be even more guests than I expected - and such a gorgeous cake! Everyone made sure it was a very fun and cozy evening :)

 

Oh, and of course I got some very adorable birthday presents as well. One was from my Japanese friend Takara. He must have somehow read my mind and knew that I needed a new wallet for change, so that was exactly what he gave to me. It even has the Keio logo on it! :)

The other was from Laurien, who got it from Disneyland *-* perfect for writing down Japanese Kanji and words.

In the night, I was very happy to meet my friends from Bielefeld, as well as my family, who all gathered together to wish me a happy birthday. It was so sweet, and so great to see all of you again :-*

The birthday treats did not end there. I met Takara on Thursday and he took me to Shibuya to try purikura (short for "print club"). If you have neveer heard of this popular Japanese activity: It is a photobooth, but not your usual boring one for passport pictures. In what felt like 5 minutes, you have to:

• select the number of people participating
• choose a theme 
• pose for 5 photos 
• choose how your eyes should look in the photos (from tiny to Manga-style)
• select the photos you would like to edit
• again choose a colour/theme for the printout
• edit these photos
• send them to your phone (I failed here because I couldn't enter my Gmail address, which is the only one supported)
• get them printed!

And all this in Japanese, while the machines were constantly talking to you and the screen was showing countdowns all the time. It was probably one of the craziest things I have done here so far - and I would totally do it again. Japanese youth, especially girls (according to Takara, boys don't do that unless they have female company) love this thing and readily spend 500 yen for a (unfortunately very tiny) printout of cute pictures together. Here are our results :)

As I said, it is tiny...

... but I have to state that this one is my favourite

After that, we went to an all-Asian restaurant where they serve free coriander so you can feel like a rabbit waiting for your meal. :3

My Pak Thai was very delicious!

Thank you for the great evening and interesting conversations (and trying to teach me Japanese, which is hard on a long day's evening :D)! Oh, and I also have to mention the beatiful Christmas trees in Shibuya:

Disney-themed Christmas trees everywhere

 

Rapunzel Christmas tree

Another big surprise was waiting for me on Saturday, when Essi, Alizée and Maria "kidnapped" me and we went somewhere I didn't know in advance. When we reached the place in Shibuya, it turned out to be Nagi - a vegan restaurant! I didn't even know this existed in Tokyo. The best thing: I could select everything on the menu without worrying about the occasional meat that is put in almost every Japanese dish. And everyone agreed that the food was amazing - and stuffing. ;)

Curry, brown rice, luchi (Indian deeep-fried flat bread), miso soup, some small veggies, and diverse tofu creations along with plum wine varieties. Now who still thinks vegan food can't be tasty?

After that, they took me another one of my favourite things - karaoke! *-* We sat together in a very small, cute, cozy room and sang our lungs out for an hour drinking cocktails. Sadly, we had to take the train home around midnight (the Japanese train system is just ridiculous during the night). However, it was so much fun and we are already planning a Christmas all-night karaoke (and probably clubbing). 

The many greetings and wishes which reached me from my family and friends, of course, also have to be honoured. Today, all of them made their way to Kawasaki - from Germany, Ukraine and even Peru! *-*

It is still unbelievable how lucky I am to have such fantastic friends :) :-* Love and a fabulous week! :)

P.S.: Lust auf grünen Tee?