Kichijoji and Coming of Age Day

Yesterday (that would be January 10th) was a national holiday in Japan: Seijin no hi or Coming of Age day. When you turn 20, you are considered an adult. So on the second Monday of the new year, all the people who have turned 20 years old in the last year (and are currently 20) get dressed up in their fancy kimonos (or suits for boys) and go to special ceremonies and parties on this day. There was no school, and my friend Kanako invited me and Dorothy and Nick to go eat cake with her and her mom in celebration!

Kanako and her mom:

We all got our pictures with her too:

(haha Kanako looks so little next to Nick)

We all liked trying on Kanako's fancy fox wrap: (obviously)

 Dorothy is so high fashion even when she's wearing a bajillion scarves!

Then her mom treated us all to cake and tea (well technically...I got PIE a la mode! and a la meringue? YUMM)

After we parted ways, Dorothy and I did another photoshoot. I love the location we happened to stumble upon! (More photos on her blog later of course) Here are some of my faves though:

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Saturday after class, some friends and I ventured out to an area in Tokyo called Kichijoji. It has lots of shopping and a big park where you can ride swan boats and have soft serve ice cream and can see....men putting themselves in giant balloons?:

We ate ice cream:

And ate dango (mochi in shoyu sauce- totes delicious)

And took pictures with random people:

And visited many stores which reminded me of World Market (a store we have in the States):

So many alpacaaaaaas <3 !

That's it for now. Lastly, I'd like to give a big ol' shoutout to my Ducks. Awesome job guys for making it this far- and OOOOOOOOOO! Here's to next season.