If someone had told me......

......................that I would be spending my 60th birthday ('kanreki' in Japanese) in Tokyo, riding my bicycle (in high heels, no less) to an Ikebana class, having lunch at the top of a building overlooking Mt. Fuji and drinking Bellinis in a champagne bar, I would have found it difficult to believe you.

Sorry for the gap in my postings, but having heard from many of you this week, it seemed a great idea to go back online and do a brief update. I will go back and add in the missing details later on, as we have had some interesting travels in Japan and would love to share them, albeit not in the correct chronological order.

Tony had to travel this week, so we started my birthday celebration at the weekend at a wonderful restaurant, Brasserie Manoir, which is within walking distance of our house. The meal was beautifully prepared and presented, which is fairly typical of restaurant food here in Tokyo. Although a French restaurant, there is a very Japanese way of cooking and serving the food, as you can see from the photographs.

On my actual birthday, Wednesday, I cycled (in the aforementioned high heels!) to my Ikebana Class that is held in the nearby girls' school. For those of you who may not know, I have made it my singular obsession to gain my teaching certificate in Ikebana flower arranging before I leave.

I finished the official coursework a few weeks ago and have earned my ‘flower name’, which is the combination of one syllable from my teacher’s flower name and one syllable from a flower of my choosing. My flower name is ‘Ju Sen’, which apparently sounds very pretty to the Japanese ear. It also seems a bit like an abbreviation of Julie+ Solf (my unmarried name)+ Ennis  Also, I may be called ‘Sensei’ if I ever decide to teach, so all very neat and tidy, lexically speaking.  I have been following my 82 year old teacher around Tokyo, taking classes wherever she teaches in order to complete the final part that will allow me to teach once I return to the US.

This is my teacher with me on my birthday, she gave me a red vase (more about the color red and 60th birthdays later) and I created an arrangement in it with the materials I had for my day's lesson.

  

 This is the arrangement that I made that day.

After a dash to the US Embassy to get forms signed for our departure and the start of Tony's retirement (!!) at the end of the year,  I was taken to lunch by the group from Tony's office, again a lovely meal at the top of the building looking out over the rooftops with Fuji in the distance (it was a beautiful, cool day with bright blue skies). A beautiful 'kaiseki' meal, which is many small courses. Below, you can see the carved radish (one of the large Japanese Daikon radishes) and the plants are rice.

 Sashimi (raw fish with carved vegetable leaves)

Dessert was unusual, too.
Later in the day, my lady friends from mahjong took me to a champagne bar and we had a relaxing evening drinking Bellinis and telling funny stories. It was a very lovely day, although I missed my family and friends and look forward to celebrating with you all when we get home.

Oh, I nearly forgot to explain about the significance of wearing red on your 60th. When you reach 60, you will have been around the Chinese Zodiac, with its 12 animals (this is the year of the Dragon) five times. This reflects the passage of the five elements, wood, fire, earth, metal, water.  At 60, the Japanese believe that you start again with your childhood. The word for baby is 'aka-chan' and 'aka' means red. As you may see, I am wearing a red top in the photo of me and my sensei and the vase she gave me is red. In my second childhood, I plan to behave badly and expect to suffer no consequences!

My final celebration in Tokyo is next week, when a group of ladies will all wear red and we will go to dinner together. So, I have been very fortunate to celebrate in so many ways.