Me, Jane & Birthdays

My friend Jane came to visit me from Hong Kong. It was her 30th birthday the day after it was my 28th so we celebrated together Tokyo style (which ended up meaning we had a few meals and drinks in between working most of the weekend). On Friday (my b-day), I went to dinner with a great group of friends to Gonpachi. It's this great very Japanese place that Koizumi and Bush eat at together when he's visiting (but I'll forget about that). A scene of Kill Bill was filmed here, too. But I've never seen the movie. Anyway, it's this fabulously huge space with delicious food that is all, thank god, cooked. So many of my new friends showed up and got me little gifts---from a drawing of me in my neighborhood that my neighbor did, to some CDs, and chocolate caviar--it was really touching to know I've met so many nice people. Here are some pics from the night...