Girls Japanese birthday party ideas

I am planning on doing a Japanese birthday party outside on our deck. I need some suggestions on where to buy party supplies, I need to know what music, dances, etc. would tie in with the Japanese culture. I am not that familiar with Japanese culture but my daughter loves anything Japanese. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

How old is your daughter? If we are talking under 16, then I would have thought anything anime-related would do the trick.. Pokemon?
I don't see young kids getting too excited about bon odori dancing. ;-)
As for music... you could try tracking down some Morning Musume or SMAP, maybe. (You can see how little I know about kids' tastes these days)

I am from the United States and do not know anything about the music or dances? What are the popular singers? And, she is ten years old but very mature for her age. She does like final fantasy stuff, but really likes a lot of the Japanese decor such as, the fans, lamps, etc. I am looking for what some of the Japanese symbols mean because I am wanting to print my own invitations with a design on the front. Any help would be appreciated.

Dang. Your doing a Japanese theme party AND have the smarts to find out if your daughter likes old Japan or new Japan. If I had had parents like that...

Anyway, traditional ambiance- you can get lots of decorations easily, but you might want to think about getting some yutaka. Its the kimono they wear in the summer. Boys and girls both wear them. It looks really Japanese, and they still wear them now so it should be easy to find. Should be cheap and its instant Japanese costume party!

As for music... hahah everyone her age here listens to American music! Oh I was so dissapointed when I got here. As for Japanese music Smap is dominating like crazy. Exile is popular if you like more R&B style. You could find some of the vocal Final Fantasy CD's. Probably download them off the internet even.

Hope it helps, good luck!

Oh yeah, the characters. you can go to http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/wwwjdic?1C

and look up words if you want to see the character for some meaning you like. Usually for formal things you will have 2 characters together. (compound words are more sophisticated)
Often though the cool looking ones and the appropriate ones are not the same. Most T-shirts sold in america have things written like "horse' or 'foot' or some nonsense. The one I thought was the most beatiful turned out to have a crap meaning.

But considereing most of the western adults living in Japan cant read their own addresses you could put anything on the invitations and no one would know. Looking one up takes alot of work unless youve already had years of education.

Hello,
I am doing the same thing for my daughter 16 birthday, she is into the culktaure and all the older stuff. I ahve been looking on the internet with google.com and found fans, lanterns to buy, and I was going to use big pillows I can giver her after the party. I am not sure where you live but, there are authentic stores you can get some of these items. I will look again later, I have a friend who grew up in Japan, she is a native of Japan and she stated all the things the teenagers now are Americanized, so she is asking her parents about party games, or anything they did a traditional birthday when they were young.
Theresa

i luv japansese stuff and music,for music look for BoA,do as infitiny,utada hiraku,ayumi hamasaki.lots more,does she like animecuz u can go on ebay for that stuff.

Here I am digging for Japan birthday stuff. My daughter already had her room revamped to new / old Japan styles. Her Grandfather has spent time in Japan and played a big roll in helping. We bought walpaper at a walpaper store with samari warriors on it and the ancient writing. VERY KEWL! That would be a easy idea for invitations ..old world looking wallpaper rolled into scrolls tied with ribbon. and tasles. My big thing Im looking for is cake ideas ..snacks I have a great suchi ice cream (not real suchi of course) taco shells rolled with soft ice cream and gum drops in middle and eat with chop sticks www.familyfun.com Aug 04 issue. Her birthday is august ..cherry blossom are her favorite.. 2 years back her grandmother took her to the Japneese festival and it had alot of the ancient dances etc. She also bought some music at the festival ..yes we have the fortune to listen to music nobody understands ..hha just like the rest of the teenage music ...but she loves it! So anyway anyone have ideas on stuff to make such as a cake decorated..she found a wedding cake ..chocolate with bamboos..i think its a bit much for a 14th birthday ... there is a magazine that has gift bags, purses, umbrellas and such that u can purchase faily cheap... trading ( cant think of the name of it sorry) Bonsi trees are kewl too. for center pieces u can get them in fake plants. My daughter has real ones in her room along with bamboo plants, dolls, wicker shelves, lantern lamp, and we painted her tv stand black to match the rest of her things. We bought her a bed spread at Walmart with dragons and Japan writing on it. Now just to get through this party ..any ideas please email me at wade87@frontiernet.net THanks

Oriental trading is the name of the magazine that u can get ideas from ..they are online as well and will send u a free catalog ..i remembered the name as soon as i submitted my reply sorry

I would like to do this for my son. I hope you don't mind my requesting any ideas for a japanese party for him. He is totally into any thing asian. His name is japanese also. Well, I want to ask someone where did they get that samari wall paper. Help.

a word of warning: do not do a pokemon birthday party unless your child specificly mentions it, or is really immature. not heeding this message will result in utter humiliation of the child and yourself.(the same goes for yu-gi-oh, duel masters, beyblade and wat ever the current steriyotype for anime is now days.) if your kid is into anime, take him/her to a anime con( the smaller ones arn't that expensive ) you can purchase japanese items in china or japan town. If she/he is into J-pop, the band PuffyAmiYumi is exporting CDs here now.
~Sakki

I'm going to be thirteen, and I'm into the whole Japanese-theme as well. I imagine my mom is having a bit of trouble, considering she's in the same predicament as you.
Okay this is what I think:

Music:
Puffy AmiYumi. They're also becoming widely known in the U.S. and you can buy their CD at Barnes and Noble, or any bookstore.
I also suggest Ayumi Hamasaki.

I definately agree with the Yukatas, because they're all so beautiful, and if your daughter really loves Japan, you can't go wrong with kimonos... Although, they can be quite tricky to tie the obi correctly. I've seen sites with the step-by-step, so I suggest you Google it.

Basically, it all depends on the time period of Japan we're talking. I like both, so...
Food! For food, I would recommend sushi. Sushi, sashimi, vegetable stir-fry, selections of the oriental manner. I hope the information helped.

Just keep it cute!
Lots of pink!

I am planning my 16th birthday party and have decided to do a Japanese theme. I just about have everything sorted out down to the last detail 3 months before the party. BUT I can not seem to find any kind of Japanese clothing stores around my area of Columbus, Indiana. I wish to buy kimonos or the such for the atendees of my party. I have searched as hard as possible in as many ways as possible. But I still have no luck! Does anyone have any ideas as to where I should look? Or maybe even a store? I just know that it is rather pricey to buy all of it online. (That and I don't have the freedom to do so)

I don't know much about japanese birthdays, but i know a couple of good j-pop/j-rock music.

1.Utada Hikaru
2.L'Arc-en-Ciel
3.T.M. Revolution
4.X Japan
5.Ayumi Hamasaki

I forgot the rest, but as soon as i remember i will added to the list.

My 7 year old wants a japanese party. I got flip flops on clearance at walmart with the silky, asian print so that everyone can have them when they come in the door. Also, look on ebay for clothes. I found a great seller, if I can find her name I'll let you know. I got a gorgeous dress for my daughter to wear for under $10.

I'm 17 years old and I listens to Japanese Music all the time,
Ayumi Hamasaki is a good one,and so is BOA. BOA is well known through Japan, Korea and China.

Everyone so far has been stating really obvious out going things, but you might want to consider subtle things as well, like back ground music and the such, someone mentioned lanters, and I highly recomened it as well. If you daughter likes Final Fantasy I would sujjest any music by Nabuo Uematsu, you can get loads of vocal and instrumental cd's off HMV, eBay, and even Chapters, try chapters.com or HMV.com if you want to just order it and get it over with. Wall scrolls are another decorative sujjestion but I highly recomened cross-translating what it means befroe buying it, a friend of mine bought a rather interesting wall scroll with a load of symbols on it all over the place and the person who sold it too him said it was a prayer for peace, what it actually was when properly translated was something I dare not repeat, needless to say it was very naughty. If you want to go all out buy some waving fortune kitties, if you buy imitation (ie plastic rather then porcelin) you can give one to each guest relativly cheap and if you buy kimono's don't forget wooden sandles. Hope she has a great time! good luck.

I'm an eighteen year old American, who definately loves Japanese Music and the Culture. After I finish my homeschool, I'm going to college to take Japanese. But anyways, for some good music try these artists/bands:

~Ayumi Hamasaki~ #1 Always.

~BoA~ -She is really creative can sing in a bunch of languages and she also has a few English songs that are very good.

~Puffy AmiYumi~ A great band that actually has their own show on Cartoon Network called: Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. They have songs in both Japanese & English.

~The Brilliant Green~ Very melodic sounding voice. She can also sing in English!

~Do As infinity~ Wow! A great band. Who I came to know through an Anime.

As for Anime Ideas. Try InuYasha. it's my favorite Anime, always have been. it's more of an action type theme then a love theme..But when there are love scenes they're played out maturely. For any anime merchandise you're looking for or even soundtracks of Fanal Fantasy and even J-pop CDs, Go to www.cartoonpassion.com That's where i get a lot of my stuff. They also have hard to find collectibles. There's another site almost like that but it also has Japanese language learning computer programs and stuff and more importantly they have a whole page on Japanese t-shirts and kimonos! It's called: www.japanimation.com- For local store we don't have much here in Michigan..But we do have a great store called: World Market. Which I go for a lot of Asian things..They are a little pricy..but that's because they're all Imports. Hope I served you well. ^_^

hey I say this as a 12 year old. For my 13th b-day I am doing a japanese theme 2. I suggest having your daughter stand by the door greeting everyone. bow and say konichiwa or ohayo or something. serve the guests green tea until everyone has arrived