Hair Salon

Yes, dear readers. Since I will be heading to Tokyo for the Midnight Mess event this upcoming weekend, I decided to get my hair done in honor of the occasion. As such, I banked on my friend's recommendation and went to the beauty salon B2C Raffine in Sannomiya, across from the Don Quixote. Armed with two friends that I dragged along with the promise of candy, I walked into the beauty salon and attempted to pick a hair color. No cut, just color. I am not rich, you know.

Going to the beauty salon in Japan is an experience, one I highly recommend since it is the total opposite of an American salon. In America, salons are get in, get the hair cut, get out establishments, but here in the land of the rising sun, they definitely take their time doing things.

After picking out a red-brown color with a lighter brownish streak, they put me in a chair in front of a mirror with magazines, and placed my friends at the windowsill to look pretty. They (being two girls) wrapped me in the standard hair cutting cloak. This was then followed by a layer of cellophane around my neck to prevent anything from touching it, dye or otherwise, and then was proceeded by yet another cloak thing, only shorter. To top it all off, another round of cellophane and little ear covers. I was boiling, and this was just the beginning.

They started with streaks, the younger apprentice doing the back while the more experienced woman did the front and sides. How do I know she was an apprentice? She asked how to do streaks, that's how. The streaks and the root dyes were done by the same two women, but when it came time for the whole head dying, the head beautician and the other experienced woman took over. After being let to sit, I realized that the clock read 8:15; I arrived at the salon at 6:50.

Shampooing. They really get into this part, complete with scalp massage and neck rub! I had my hair washed at least 3 times, and before the drying began I had an upper back and head massage. The head massage was basically her smacking my head around lightly for 5 minutes, but the upper back one was nice. That girl had a very firm grip, to put it lightly. And since my back is so messed up, extreme tension is necessary. I guess that cut back in my massage time...

In the end, after they put my hair in a cut little curl thing, they realized that my hair was not as red as I had requested. As such, the head beautician told me to come back on Wednesday to have it re-dyed, and that I would pay for it then. They are so trusting in this country...

My thoughts 2 months in....

For those of you who have never in your life gone to a country where it is so homogeneous that by simply having a different eye color you can be ostracized, then this is the blog for you. Japan is all Japanese people, and as such trying to blend in while being a study abroad student is not just impossible, it's downright lonely. No one will go out of their way to speak to you, in Japanese, English, or otherwise, unless it is for some random practice on the train during your commute. Evidently, according to the host families (note the plural), I am the pretty girl in this years batch of students, which leads me to SEVERAL more issues. One, I am blond and I stand out like a sore thumb without even trying. Two, pretty white girls=easy in the minds of the chauvinistic pigs that are the vast majority of Japanese males. Three, people talk to me alright, because it makes them look good when they talk to me. They don't give a damn what I say 90% of the time.

I am becoming increasingly emo, seeing that I cannot talk openly to ANYONE but the study abroad students and the Japanese people who studied abroad in Pittsburgh years ago. The one or two Japanese people that I CAN actually talk to, I am sure I annoy with my constant asking of them to hang out with me. It may seem illogical to them, but I really don't have many friends here in Japan that are free on any day but Sunday, so actually having someone to talk to during the week is refreshing. My schedule is tight, in fact, this is my only free weekend until December.

True, I brought one of those weekends upon myself. It is free, a free 4-day weekend, actually, so I made plans to go to Tokyo and reunite with Satomi, Masa, and Awate. I like Kansai, but Tokyo people ignore you no matter what you look like or dress like, so I am missing the blending in feeling, that of anonymity. When I go to Tokyo, my good friend John will be participating in Midnight Mess, which is essentially a gothic-metal-industrial celebration of all things twisted and weird. Much like myself. Needless to say, I will be dressing for the event as a punk lolita, though I need new tights seeing as I forgot to pack a pair. John, who calls himself both Count de Sang and Chi no Hakushaku (both meaning Count of Blood), is a member of the body suspension act in addition to the singing theatrical events. I am really looking forward to this, seeing as John might be one of the few people in this world who accepts all my little insanities not only with out question, he manages to top them all and make me feel normal. A reunion with Masa, Satomi and Awate would also be pleasant, since when Masa drinks too much he talks to garbage cans, Satomi just bounces around no matter what, and Awate touches people in very inappropriate ways. Laughs galore, no?

Slowly but surely I am missing everyone back home, from Lisa, Julie and my watching of Battle Royale to Louis forgetting his umbrella and still stumbling out into the rain, bookbag and all, in order to have dinner with me. Gloria and her little....dance thing? I think? to arguing with Kevin over the dumbest things like ranking our attractiveness. Jia being Jia is something I also miss whole-heartedly. All I seem to do anymore is sit in my room, watching horror movies or reading the books they are based on. I think I am slowly becoming hikkikomori, or at least an asshole. I am not a douche bag, though, that honor has been given to a Canadian.

When I ran spell check on this, hikkikomori came up as misspelled, and the spelling suggestion was quagmire. That made me laugh.

A grand update! Epic! Gigantic!

It has officially been one month since I updated my blog, but was honestly because I was too busy to sit down and organize my thoughts effectively. However, it is a Friday night, I am broke with no plans, so I might as well update with a monster of a post. And here we go...

Essentially, the entire month of October was nothing but field trips, field trips, Kenpo practice and midterms. Oh, doesn't that sound just FUN?? The first of the field trips was to Himeji Castle, one of the largest castles in Japan. I actually went twice, once with my host family and then once with the Japanese Samurai History class.

The first time was with Cole, my host family and I, and it was during a national holiday meaning we drove. And it took about an hour and a half. Ridiculous. Oh, and the place was terribly crowded and it was a kinda rainy day. But I must admit, though it was no Neuschwanstein, it was very interesting in its own special way. There were no tapestries or murals that you would see in Western castles, but you got to see how the Samurai would set up their defenses for the castle! As the professor, a very nice Russian lady who sometimes doesn't know when to stop talking, explained, some princess named Sen 千 lived in the castle for quite some time. She is apparently a very famous figure in Japanese history, but I don't study classical history, so this fact was lost upon me. All I remember was that she became a nun after her second marriage. At the top floor of the castle was a little shrine, but I sincerely believe a starbucks would be better...

Lunchtime during the two trips were vastly different affairs. With my host family, Cole and I were taken to a very expensive Italian restaurant in Sannomiya (we're talking about 30 bucks a plate) where we could dine to our hearts content since we weren't paying. With the class trip, however, we had to pay out of your own pockets, so hello cheap-ass tourist cafeteria food! I actually consumed quite a lot of icecream and udon noodles.

The only difference between the two trips was that with the class we went as a group to the gardens just off the castle grounds. The gardens were very small, very Japanese, and had a lot of slugs. The slugs were too gross so I didn't take a picture of them. The garden was nice, lots of fish and water and other things that make you really want to pee. And wouldn't know you it, they kept the bathrooms waaaay out in the front by the entrance so you had to go through the whole thing in order to use the facilities. Oh joy. But now I am castle'd out, and have no intention of ever going to another Japanese one for as long as I live. Or until this year is up. Not sure, haven't decided yet.

Next up: THE AQUARIUM! I went with a Japanese boy to this place, so everyone who knows about it pretty much screamed that it was a date. Though I do rather like said boy (and not because he is Japanese, you sick people. His personality is awesome, even by American standards), I am nearly 100% certain it was not a date. I have an obsession with penguins and he has one with turtles. It evens out into a "let's go to the aquarium!" type of situation.

The Osaka aquarium is called Kaiyukan 海遊館, and it has some baby whale sharks! Ahhh, excitement! However, the entrance fee is hefty, 2,000 yen or approximately 20 dollars. My friends who went the week before me said they were there for a few hours, more than 3. I was there for about 2, perhaps? It was not very crowded but it was very difficult to find a good spot to sit and rest for a time and still see fish from the seat. As you can see, this whaleshark here is a perfect representation of my Aunt Mimi, whose name in Japanese means ear. Yes, ear. Like the one you found in your icecream, auntie. So we hung around the aquarium and then got dinner, after which we returned to my homestay to watch some horror movies. Or, I should say, movies he found scary but I found silly and/or confusing. Oh well, I guess I am not Japanese enough, eh?

Time to talk about.... KOYASAAAAAAAN. This little trip was on Sept 28th, but it actually marked SEVERAL turning points in my life, including the aftermath in which I was introduced to a certain someone (see above). So, essentially Koyasan was a little fieldtrip to the Buddhist Mountain thingy where we were to live with Monks and eat only vegetarian food! According to Janine I have now lived out her escapist fantasy. In my mind, I went through an icy hell of a weekend. Basically, I saw what Buddhism really consisted of: homosexuality (as found in my research on the social history of homosexuality in Japan), lack of flavor in the food, and also rocks. Lots of rocks. Some of them pretty, some of them...I dunno, but they were there for a reason. Generally, they were grave markers, though the names were not often written.

Living in the monastary was definitely a new experience. We stayed in a small one called Ho-on-in, where it was just (about 50 westerners) and 3-4 monks. And the head dude and his family. And the poodle. The food was all vegetarian, and I must admit I am beginning to get sick of tofu. The rooms were seperated according to gender, boys got a big ass room x2 and the girls got smaller side rooms. I was paired with Leila, Val, Julienne and Diana, and we all huddled together for warmth since the futons didn't offer much.

One thing about staying with Julienne: her hair is so long that if she flips it forward she looks like Sadako from the Ring. And guess what she did in the morning? Yep. The Ring crawl. Last thing we all needed at 6 am before the morning chanting and meditations. And I totally fell asleep during those meditations. As in, faceplant into the tatami mat. I was OUT, and even worse, I was in the front row nearest to the head monk dude. Yeah, that was not rude at all!

Essentially, second day was free time to go out and roam around the other temples in the area. For those of you that know me well, you should know that I have less than zero interest in religion. As in, going to the Vatican has no effect on me, so why should going to the greatest Buddhist sanctuary in all of Japan have any effect? I actually was more concerned with getting my paws on some real meat. The moment they gave me the lunch stipend, I ran to the nearest restaurant and ordered some tempura udon, others got katsudon or unagidon. But hey, meat is meat and hot food is hot food. And not tofu is NOT TOFU.

There is a professor at this University named Konishi. He is very....VERY gay. While at Koyasan, he burst into the boy's bathing area and took pictures of them while they were washing. Yes, in the nude. And on the way back on the train we all were given the "treat" of seeing our fellow students in the buff. Needless to say, all the other sensei on the excursion were in shock.

Halloween was also an event to be had, for my friend's experiences please see the young brit's site: http://darlosworld.co.uk/ . As for me, I did not dress up but rather went as me. Only I said I was a whore, much like what my father said to Awate last year about me. But there was a well-dressed banana and a monkey in the mix, in addition to a hello kitty cow and a power ranger.

I just went out with Cole, Julienne, Vanessa and Stephanie to a yakitori shop (super cheap, 280 yen a plate!!) for a few hours before heading back home. I am such a boring soul, but I can't afford to go all-out smashed gaijin in the streets JUST yet. Maybe when I am in Tokyo with Awate and Masa, relive the good old days. If I could remember them. Anyway, that about does it for the blog. I could write more, but my fingers are getting tired. Until next time!