Complete and Creative

My Surprise 20th Birthday Party in Japan (1/2)

“How does it feel to celebrate your birthday so far away from your family and regular group of friends?” Fushigi, one of the other international students studying in Japan, asked me as we walked to karate practice on the night of my birthday. (Fushigi isn’t his real name, but some of us called him that because he was always so fushigi, “mysterious” in Japanese. The other names mentioned are also nicknames, all affectionately uttered by the group of us international students.)

It wasn’t my first time celebrating my birthday abroad, but it was definitely the most memorable. Birthdays are a big thing, all around the world. Japan is no exception. This is a story about how one foreigner had the best surprise birthday of his young life with a small group of people he had barely known for over a month.

They cooked so much food that night…

And it was a small group, much smaller than any standard university study abroad group. We were 20, 10 Americans and 10 Japanese students, who basically volunteered to be our friends (they were called our “tutors,” but they were more like culture guides who were themselves interested in learning about a foreign culture). With a group so small, it was no surprise that we grew as close as fast as we did, especially since we lived in a tiny town in the middle of the countryside.

Apparently, I had been acting moody all week because no one seemed to care that my birthday was coming up. I didn’t feel moody, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed, particularly because none of us was that busy that week and we had been talking about my birthday for the few weeks prior. I thought I was in the right for not feeling jolly.

Earlier in the evening, before karate practice, I called up the guys, who all lived one floor down, to see if they wanted to do something simple like going to an izakaya (a traditional Japanese bar) for my birthday. They all pretty much said yes nonchalantly, not sounding too excited about my birthday. By the way, turning 20 in Japan is like turning 21 in America. You don’t really get any new legal privileges (aside from being able to vote, but who cares about that when convenience store owners and bartenders don’t check ID), but in Japanese culture it’s the official transition from child to adult, glorified by an intricate traditional ceremony called a seijin shiki, “ceremony of adulthood.” So I turned legal twice, once in Japan and once in America. How cool is that?

I didn’t realize that my fellow international students were such good actors until after the surprise birthday. They got me good, especially Jami. “You sounded pretty pitiful over the phone, dude. I really made you think I didn’t give a sh*t, didn’t I?”

Before karate practice, a few of the tutors had come over to Panda’s room (we had a very interesting game of charade in which Panda earned herself that nickname). One of them knocked on my door to borrow some soy sauce. I had no idea what they were doing, but I should’ve guessed.

After karate practice, we were walking back to our apartment complex, the night breeze cooling our sweating bodies, when Fushigi got a phone call. He and Panda were walking a little ahead while one of the tutors and I were walking a little behind. Then Panda came running back to me and asked (I use this word “asked” as a euphemism) me to go to Ogino, the local supermarket, with her to do some grocery shopping.

“But I’m supposed to go to the izakaya with the guys,” I protested.

“But I need milk [or something trivial like that]!” she said.

“Okay,” I conceded.

She was stalling for time. They weren’t done cooking back at the apartments yet. I still wasn’t suspecting anything.

to be continued…