Overdoing it a Bit

The Japanese seem to overdo everything – and approach everything super carefully. On Sunday, I finally went to get my haircut. I happened to be in Kofu, and there’s a haircut place right near the station that came recommended by another JET. So, I went. They were able to fit me in (though not with the guy who speaks English). I showed the guy a picture of me when my hair was shorter, he seemed to get the idea, and we went along our merry way. The first thing (obviously) is to get the hair shampooed. This was a big of an ordeal. First, he put a small towel around my neck (very carefully), then a large towel on my lap, and then a smock tied at the neck. When I leaned back to get my head wet, he put this face shaped piece of paper on my face – I have no idea why. (Maybe Japanese people get embarrassed when someone washes their hair, and they don’t want the person doing it to see their face – and vice versa.) So, he finally sits me down and starts cutting my hair. But, he seemed sort of afraid to actually cut it. He would cut a few millimeters at a time, and then I would say, “a little shorter”, and he would cut a few more millimeters, and I would say, “a little shorter”, and so on… I’m sure he didn’t want to cut it too short for me (only to enrage me), but the picture I had shown him was of my hair (literally) moments after it was cut, and it was really short. He seemed really really tentative to take it to that level though – you know, the level where he cuts my hair. Once it was satisfactorily short (after a lot of coaxing), he took me back to the sink to rinse my hair (actually a good idea) – complete with two towels, a smock, and a face cover. Then he blow-dried it. By the time I got out of there, I had been getting my haircut for over an hour. A bit much…

In a similar vein, I started going to a gym that’s not too far from my apartment. When you go to a gym in Japan (or, at least this gym), you can’t just pay a fee, and go work out. First, you need to buy a key. They program the key to tell you what workout you should do. You go to the tell-you-what-to-do machine, it tells you what to do. Then you go to the treadmill, bike, or weight machine, put your key in, and the machine you’re working on only lets you do what the key says you can do. If you try to change the level on the bike, for instance, the machine changes it back. Naturally, I resisted this system – I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, after a whole song and dance with the staff there (many of whom actually speak English surprisingly well), they had me take a strength test that would determine whether or not I was capable enough to determine my own workout (a test, they told me, that “everyone passes” – right… what’s the point then?). I passed, and they let me go about my business.

Actually the key idea is really good. I just don’t like to be told what to do.