Japanese birthday's aren't different from Canadian birthdays. You celebrate them just the same way. You sing song, eat cake, have fun, and do what you do. I'm writing about my birthday because there were things that I did that was unique to Japan, and here they are...

On Saturday, the 15th of September, 1 day after my birthday, I planned to go golfing with Kenji and Kaz, two of my friends who work at NEC. We rented a car and drove to Chiba for about an hour and a half to get to the golf course. First thing that differs greatly from Canada is that the cars here seem to all have GPS built-in and are incredibly spacious but small from the outside. When driving on the highway here, the highways have sound detterant walls (not so unique) and about 1 tollbooth every 50 km that charge ridiculous rates for highway use. We spent perhaps $100 dollars in total for the trip on highway tolls alone.

Golfing: Golfing was incredibly fun. We suck though. It took us about 3 hours to finish the first 9 holes, and another 2 hours to finish the last 9 holes. Anyway, what's different about golfing in Japan and golfing in North America? Nothing =P. I just wanted to tell you we sucked but had a hell of a time playing. Old Japanese golfers are also just as good as old American golfers I think.

After golfing, we went to a nearby onsen. An onsen is a japanese hot spring that is used for relaxation and is very therapeutic. Everybody gets naked, gets into the earth-heated water, and just minds their own business. This onsen was a ridiculous $3 CDN entry charge! How is it so cheap? I am still wondering about that...

On our way home from Chiba and the onsen, we took an express highway over Tokyo Bay. Usually, it would take about an hour to go around Tokyo Bay and back to Gotanda where we rented the car. However, this time, Kenji had planned a stop at the Aqua Line rest stop, which is a small shopping complex in the middle of Tokyo Bay. After the Aqua Line rest stop, you plunge into an underwater tunnel through Tokyo Bay and come out at some place I don't know. See the photos by clicking on the link at the bottom, it was truly a unique place.

Dinner: After dropping the car off in Gotanda, we headed off on foot to a nearby Sushi restaurant. The sushi at this restaurant was the best I have ever had. We ordered the 3 person platter at ($60 CDN), a half-dozen of "king" Kirin Beers, kami-meso soup (crab and meso soup), and assorted tempura appetizers. For dessert, we had crab brains and some sorta seaweed soup. In total, we spent about $150 on dinner... man, I'm glad we don't do that every night.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and learnt a little more about the Japanese way of life. Please enjoy these photos