Family Visit: My Official Birthday

My itinerary prescribed that we must visit Hakone on Monday, but plans change, and my family wanted to spend another day in Tokyo. Everyone said how much they loved the place! The thought of whether they would like Japan or not hadn't even entered my head, strangely, it felt like they were coming to see me more than to go on holiday. And there may be an element of truth in that!

We decided to make that day my "official birthday" as they weren't here for my actual one. We slept in for a bit and then met at Tokyo City Air Terminal where we had seen a nice cake shop. We ate a gorgeous breakfast of birthday cake, fruit and coffee.

And then I got even more presents! I had only asked for money as I didn't really need anything else but I think they wanted me to have things to open. I did get lots of money too, but I opened a 1kg Cadbury's Dairy Milk (wow!), a calendar of my local area in Birmingham, a placemat and coaster, a desk lamp and underwear!

I was so grateful for everything I got. I wasn't expecting anything near as much as that! It made it really special. But what made it most special was the 'I'm 19!' badge I got and wore all day.

Instead of doing more touristy things, we went to my local swimming pool in Hamacho Park. I took them down the alleyway of trees and bushes that I visited in January, and I was right, it was beautiful with the blooming sakura.

We swam for a long time, and then went into the sauna. We weren't sure if children were allowed in there but nobody said anything.

To go in, we had to buy tickets from a machine and then go through a gate like on trains. We couldn't quite figure out the machine, so we asked for help and the gate attendant woman helped us out. The ticket from the machine locks your locker in the changing rooms, and lets you get out afterwards. The lockers were huge - you could actually fit everything inside them!

Then you walk through to the pool area, through a shower area that senses you're there and sprays you clean. We got into the pool straight away, but then a lifeguard came over and (I was impressed that I did this conversation entirely in Japanese) told us that we all needed to wear swimming hats over our heads and hair. He said it was free and he'd give them to us.

So we all ended up looking like Ali G swimming round a pool.

They had a 'Walking Course', a 'Beginner's Course' and an 'Expert Course' separated by floats in lines. It was lots of fun, and relaxing as I hadn't had a bath since the onsen in Hakone.

At one point, they called everyone out for five minutes, while a woman wearing diving gear and flippers (not slippers) dived in and swam up and down the lanes. We had no idea what was happening but it seemed to be pretty normal so we just waited.

That evening, we headed to Roppongi on the Hibiya line from Ningyocho station. Roppongi is famous for its bars and clubs, popular with ex-pats. I'd never been there before, but it was interesting.

We went into one bar but I didn't like the look of it much so we found a TGI Friday's! It reminded me of 'The Simpsons' episode where they go to Japan and eat at America-Town. But I didn't care, it was great. I drank three cocktails (the 'I'm 19!' badge was safely pocketed at this point) and we all had a fun evening.

I even had a sundae with sparklers stuck in the top while people sang Happy Birthday to me!

Even as I write this, I haven't turned 19 yet, but that day was so special that I feel like my birthday has already been and gone! Yesterday a woman in the library asked me how old I was, and I so nearly 19.

Thank you so much to everyone who made it what it was!