Haircut in Japan

Success! I got a haircut without much miscommunication, and I like it! The experience was really funny (in a good way). Four or five of the employees came up to me and spoke whatever amount of English they knew, which was fun (and Tanaka-san was my translator which was very helpful!). I kept getting the same questions over and over: "Where are you from? Where in America do you live? How long have you been in Japan? What kind of food do you like? How old are you?" I think I answered each of these about 3 or 4 times, but each person knew a different amount of English so it was very interesting to see how much I had to use hand gestures or how detailed I could get.

The haircutting experience was fun also. At first, we had a consultation with Wase-san, the guy who cut my hair, about what I wanted. I brought the pictures, and after a round of questions and many hand gestures, I was finally able to tell him. (Okay, Tanaka-san did, but his English wasn't bad so it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.) Then they washed my hair (I forgot what the girl's name was who did this, but she was very cute and nice and asked me a bunch of questions.) She was surprised that I was 24, the common age of most of the employees in that salon. Then we went back to the chair and I waited nervously for Wase-san to come back. He had many customers (I think there were more guys getting their hair done than girls, actually) so some of the other employees came over to talk to us. They showed me pictures of different food and quizzed me on where I have been and what I have eaten. Everyone said they wanted to come to America (New York, to be specific) and asked me if it was dangerous there. Compared to Japan, KANSAS is dangerous! So yes, I told them that if they go to NY they need to be safe, but I also didn't want to scare them away. I think they enjoyed speaking English, and I enjoyed hearing it.

Soon Wase-san came back and started to cut my hair. After the first cut, they conditioned it again. Then I got a quick massage (I didn't realize how uptight I had been about this whole thing until that point... it was a nice treat!) then he cut a bit more. After that, he and another girl blow dried my hair at the same time (2 dryers, one on each side of my head). Then they straightened my hair, and cut it one more time. (You'd think I don't have any hair left, right?) The end. :) Wase-san was very funny and we all laughed quite a bit. I think it was partially because of the awkwardness of the language barrier, but mostly because he had a good sense of humor. He said he wanted to go to Spain before the US (and then apologized for wanting to go there more than the US, like I would be offended!)... he said he wanted to run with the bulls (although he called them cows at first which we all laughed about also). I told him it was very dangerous, but he said, "Japanese men have strong souls." I said, "Ohhh... Good luck! (thumbs up sign)" He thought that was really funny. I also patted him on the shoulder before I left and said, "Good luck in Spain!" and he laughed all over again. I think the best part of the experience was attempting to speak English with everyone. Then they all gave me their face cards (business cards with their face on it) so I could remember them. I will probably never see them again, but if I ever live here, I will definitely go back.

Casey's home so I should go make dinner now. I'll write again later!

-Ash