Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Getting your hair cut in Japan

A skit and an interview - 8 minutes of pure goofiness. :)

My good friends at the local hair salon - Carriere - are fans of my blog and YouTube channel - so I asked them if they would like to be in a video with me. They said "mochiron."

The skit is meant to show that even with minimal Japanese you'll still be able to get by - use the Japanese you know and you'll be surprised how much English some shopkeepers and other folks know. Fumiko didn't really know what I was going to say/do in the skit, so she did a pretty good job of being a Japanese person. :D

I really have enjoyed each visit to the salon - I've come to think of it as my most pure Japanese language relationship. Fumiko and I chat about world events, sports (she likes sumo too), local gossip - all kinds of things - and we do it almost entirely in Japanese. She doesn't want to practice her English on me, like so many Japanese adults do when you meet them, and we don't have to talk about school, which is refreshing.
My Japanese was pretty bad when I first arrived in 2004, but she's been really patient and we've had a great time chatting along the way these past 5 years.

I hope you enjoy the vid!

-Jason

4 comments:

M' T said...

Yo Jason! very cool vid. I was wondering, I've heard all this stuff about Japanese barbers not really knowing how to handle western hair (i.e. usually curlier, thicker hair.) and western people ending up with awkward haircuts because of it. Have you had any experience with that?

Anonymous said...

みたよ!!!
すごくわらってしまいました!
こんなコメントでよかったのかしら??
またやりたいね!!!
たのしいじかんをありがとうございました♪

Unknown said...

Hi! I stumbled upon this: http://www.tofugu.com/2008/12/20/applying-for-the-jet-progra-with-jason-and-his-argonauts/
and thought you'd be the perfect person I'd try to ask & contact about a certain trouble I have.

I've been trying to search for well-know and reputably legitimate student exchange programs for high school students to Japan, preferably Tokyo.
I do not know the right person to ask or the right resource to look for. Would you mind recommending some programs [to Tokyo]? It would really be a great help and will really appreciate it.

Sarah Jane said...

thanks for the video! I feel a little more confident with my Japanese now. :)