Back on Track

I must apologize for my blogging absence. I have been recovering from an evil sickness since last Tuesday and did not have the energy to write until now. For the last six days I have been reduced to riding the couch, reading books, watching Japanese cartoons with subtitles, sleeping long, restless nights, and making many trips back and forth from the bathroom. Needless to say, there is little worth sharing about my experience, so I will spare you any of the detail. Let me instead take you back to the two days before I came down with the most evil, non-swine flu (I know this because I got tested) virus I've ever had to fight (I lost many battles, but I think I have finally won the war). -

Joanna left you on Sunday night with two plugs, one for the most incredible pizza in Tokyo, and one for her amazing rock star haircut (thanks to teammate Toyoda). Let me elaborate. -

We usually have Mondays off from soccer, so by Tuesday we have already begun planning for the following Monday. We love our days of soccer and lessons learned on the field, but there is something special about a day off in a foreign country where your stay is finite and the number of opportunities to see and do things is fixed. So, this Monday we had plans to meet Kelly for dinner somewhere in Tokyo that we had never been before. We picked Naka-Megura. It was a new part of town, and it was where Joanna's haircut would later take place. -

Kelly met us at the metro around 5:00pm, plenty of time to walk around, catch-up, and have a nice meal before Joanna's haircut at 8:00pm. We agreed it would be best to locate the salon first just to make sure we knew where it was. Then we could eat dinner carefree. It was a rainy night in Tokyo, and the sun set around 5:30, so after a coffee at Starbucks, we began our salon search in the cold, wet, dark streets of Naka-Meguro.

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With a hand-sketched map drawn by Jo and three fully functioning brains, we set out in search of the salon in the complete wrong direction. And, by complete wrong direction, I mean we left the metro walking a full 180 degrees away from the salon. After a few short turns, we realized our mistake and made a few more turns to get back on track, or so we thought. Now pointed only 90 degrees in the wrong direction we were getting closer. A few more twists and turns and we headed back to the metro to reorient ourselves and to start again. -

This time we used the landmarks on Jo's map to point ourselves in the complete opposite direction from the way we first set out, and we were now sure we were headed in the right direction. We walked and walked, encouraging ourselves with statements like, "maybe it's on this street up here," or "if we just go a little farther, I bet we'll find it." The neighborhood was becoming more and more residential, which isn't always a thing of significance in Japan. Stores and restaurants often appear mixed in with houses, and this fact only added to our uncertainty about whether or not we were headed in the right direction.

"Sumimasen," we were back at the metro, map in hand, asking a stranger to show us the way. He pointed on the big map to the place we needed to go. We had been right (the third time), and we set out retracing our steps yet again. Forty five minutes of circling and re circling, we finally stood looking into the salon. It was 6:45. We had worked up quite an apatite. And having walked by "the best pizza parlor in Tokyo" twice as we circled Naka-Meguro train station looking for the salon, we headed there once again. This time to eat.

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Ironically, as we walked away from the salon, a nice woman speaking perfect English asked if we were lost and if she could help us. We looked at each other dumb founded, looked back at the woman, and said thank you, but no thank you, we had just found what we were looking for. Laughing to ourselves we asked the rhetorical, "Where was she 44 minutes ago when we really needed her?"

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The pizza parlor didn't disappoint, and we relaxed our wandering legs over slices of sausage and mushroom pizza and margherita pizza. At about ten minutes to 8:00pm we wrapped up dinner, said farewell to Kelly, and started back for the salon. -

The salon closed at 8:00pm. Our teammate, Toyoda, had arranged with her friend, Shimoji, to cut Joanna's hair for free after the salon had closed. Shimoji was in training to become a hair dresser. She was polite and friendly, welcoming us to the salon, taking our wet jackets, umbrellas, and backpacks from us as we came in. We sat for a few minutes before Shimoji came back to find out what kind of haircut Joanna wanted. Knowing very little Japanese, we knew this inevitable question was not going to be easy to answer, so we came prepared. -

Folded in Joanna's pocket was a note laboriously written by Mai and Ganchan the night before. Sitting, legs crossed, on the display window outside UniQlo, Mai and Ganchan had listened closely to exactly what kind of haircut Joanna wanted, and had painstakingly written it down on a small piece of paper. At the top of which, Joanna had them write the most important instruction, "I want to be a rock star." Taking this paper out of her pocket Joanna, smiling, handed it to Shimoji, who nodded enthusiastically. We tried to mention a few American rock stars to help illustrate Joanna's desires, but we are not sure whether this part of the message ever got across.

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As Joanna moved from the hair washing station to the chair where, figuratively speaking, "all the magic happens", we were excited by a surprise visit from Toyoda and her two friends. They were all three going out to dinner to eat Japanese stew with Shimoji after Joanna's haircut. With four chairs assembled in a semi-circle around Joanna and Shimoji, Toyoda, her two friends, and I watched each cut of Joanna's hair. And, as her hair started to take shape, I encouraged Shimoji with words of affirmation like, "sugoi", "rock star", and accompanied by affirming gestures like the universally understood "thumbs up" and big toothy smile. -

When the whole production was over, Joanna looked like a rock star, and the six of us took pictures to document the event. We thanked Toyoda, Shimoji, and the other girls, and we headed home for the night.