Wonderful Colleagues

I feel like a very lucky guy, today. Previously, I mentioned the nice birthday gifts I received from students. Well, today, I went to the house of a colleague--Takae Tsujioka--expecting a Year-End Party 忘年会, but I was instead greeted with a surprise birthday party! Tsujioka sensei and many of my other departmental colleagues such as Shoko Hamano, Anri Yasuda, Mitsuyo Sato, Miaochun Wei, Miok Pak, Hang Zhang, and Liana Chen--along with their significant others--were there as well to wish me a happy 60th. Since I had NO idea it would be a b-day party, I didn't think of bringing a camera to take pics--maybe some of my colleagues can send some if they took some. (Actually my wife--Chiei Hanami--was taking pics but I got the sense that she was taking shots of mostly food.) But I DO have photographic proof of gifts! It was a grab bag of stuff harking back to the year I was born. It included Smarties Candy, Red Hots, a mini Slinky, an ultra-mini Etcha Sketch, as well as a T-shirt lauding the year 1955, a Vintage 60-Year-Old Dude coffee mug and a pair of gloves to keep warm these crotchety old hands of mine. Takae's son, Akkun, also gave me a gift--a character from some anime, but I'm unsure who and from where. Maybe one of you anime geniuses (aka former students) can tell me the name of that white-rabbit-looking thing to the left is. Anyway I had a pleasant time and I must say it made me feel rather special. Thanks to all my colleagues.