Another birthday...

The weekend after my return from Thailand, there was no rest for the weary. S turned-- should I say his age? Anyway it's not sooo old...31. Though S is 31, he has a very "S-appeasing" life, one could say. He does what he wants to do, and anything that is too boring or takes too much unnecessary work pretty much doesn't get done, i.e. he has only one small saucepan and one small frying pan in his kitchen because "Zere is nuSSING more boRING zan buyING some PAN at zee store." So, when he told me he's never really celebrated his birthday with a party or anything big, I figured it's obviously because planning a party takes effort above and beyond the call of duty. Meanwhile, I love planning parties, so that is what I did.

I consider a birthday an entire weekend event (maybe we were born on one day, but we should be celebrated for more than one!), so on Night One I took him out to a Lebanese restaurant in Tokyo, complete with a Japanese (and therefore too cute) belly-dancer. We topped off the night with my very first stay in a Japanese "rabu hoteru." Shibuya is of course the home to many a love hotel, and the night before I dragged Becca and R-chan on a hunt for a quirky yet sensible love hotel experience. We found Hotel Claire on the hill to the left of Cartier off of Bunkamura-dori.

The room called out Austin Powers from the screaming hot pink sofa to the totally shagadelic bed which vibrated in time to the bass of the music. It was hilarious! And the room was completely clean, very spacious, and fully stocked with everything you would need for an overnight stay and more. I highly recommend a love hotel experience during your time in Japan, if only for a step into the surrealism of Tokyo.

Night 2 began with aperatif at another shag-pad, GG's place which sits on the 20-something floor of an Akasaka tower. Beautiful view but totally bacheloresque. Somehow it just makes GG more lovable, though. A dinner later we were at the party, held at Agave, a Roppongi bar with descriptor "hundreds of tequilas served in a cave-like basement." Sounds about right. We took care of that tequila just fine and ended the night in classic Tokyo style--at karaoke until 5AM, ramen until 6AM, and then back home just in time to see why Japan is indeed called the "Land of the Rising Sun."

Anyway, S graciously thanked GG and I for such a great party and admitted that it wasn't so bad celebrating his birthday after all. I could have told him that from years of experience-- (my birthday is my favorite holiday!) but instead let him sleep off his hangover. At that age, you need it.