The birthday girl and I. The peace salute is quickly becoming a bad habit for me. I just hope I stop doing it once I'm back in the states. That sort of lame stuff is fine for Japan, but totally inappropriate back home. 

Going counter-clockwise, there's Kayoko, Chiako, some dude, Juri, and the white guy.  

Today was Aki's birthday, and instead of a cake we all made some Takoyaki. Takoyaki is basically a fried ball filled with octopus, cheese, etc. The "etc" can be anything, really.