14 May 2009

Today is my 22nd birthday, but it really doesn’t feel any different than any other day. It is still only the 13th in the U.S., but I will fully enjoy my two days of celebration. Seth was the first person to wish me a happy birthday, and he gave me some Hichu strawberry candy. I had class in the morning with Don, and we additionally found out that Zach, Scot, and Trent were successful at getting tickets to the sumo tournament this evening. I was a little skeptical about how well sumo wrestling would maintain my attention, but the idea of going to a sumo tournament to celebrate my birthday was completely ridiculous and amazing at the same time. After class, Jeff, Shae, Derrick, Seth, Norio, and I quickly packed up our stuff and headed to the train station to make the 45 minute trip to Ryoguku. The Edo Tokyo Museum was located directly adjacent to the sumo wrestling hall in Ryoguku, so we ended up going there first to photograph the museum and look at the historic exhibits which documented Tokyo’s progression through time. It cost 600 yen to get into the museum, but we made sure to get receipts since Don said he’d reimburse anyone who visited the historically significant Edo Tokyo Museum. The museum was surprisingly very interesting, and I really feel like I got a lot out of that experience.
From the Edo Tokyo Museum, we walked to the sumo hall. The non-reserved cheap seats were already sold out, so it was a good thing the boys purchased them in the morning. Our 2,100 yen tickets were located as high in the hall as we could go, but the view was still surprisingly good. The matches went from 12:30-5:30pm, and the level of competition ranged from intermediate levels to pros. We were all hungry too, so I bought a hot dog and fries for 600 yen. The food prices surprisingly weren’t too overpriced at all, and we all got a decent amount of food for the amount we paid. Throughout the entire sumo match, I took a lot of photographs and even recorded some videos of the wrestling. I became increasingly intrigued with the sport, and by the end, I was completely into the matches. It was so much fun, and it was a very awesome way to celebrate my birthday.
Once the sumo matches ended for the day, we took the train back to our Yoyogi-Koen station and walked in search of a place to eat for dinner. We found a Korean restaurant that many of our classmates had raved about, so we decided to try it for a change. Derrick, Seth, and I ordered chop chae noodles, kimichi Korean mochi, and clam hot pot to share. All of the dishes tasted amazing, and I never quite realized how much I like Korean food. Everyone ended up paying for my portion of the meal as well, so that was very nice of them. The rest of the night was spent working on our studio project which has another presentation due tomorrow. As always, I stayed up late and contemplated the selections for my schedule next fall. I register for fall classes at school tomorrow, so hopefully I can get that figured out asap. Overall, I had a really enjoyable and exciting birthday, so I am very fortunate about that. Jeff and Shae even gave me a small tiramisu cup, some Hello Kitty muffins, and a Hello Kitty flat tin. Norio also gave me a crepe dessert, a hair tie, and another Hello Kitty tin. It was really thoughtful of people to remember.