Adventures in Japan

But No Complimentary Shave

Got a haircut today. Very exciting, I know. None of the hairdressers could speak any English, so that made things a bit more interesting. First, I had to pick out a hairstyle from one of their many hairstyle books. The problem with this is that my hair is not Japanese hair. It's fairly different. Plus, the trend amongst young Japanese males these days is to bleach their hair an ugly brownish orange and tease it into ridiculous shapes. I've seen anime with more realistic hair. But I managed to find one that would maybe suit me.

The actual haircutting process involved getting my hair shampooed, then cut a bit, then washed again, then I got a delightful scalp and neck massage. It was unexpected, but much appreciated. I think I ended up looking okay. At the very least my boss won't keep asking me to get it cut. And best of all it didn't cost a ridiculous amount. I'm not sure if I was supposed to tip or not.

After supper we went out for dinner. We had us some yakiniku. Literally translated, it means grilled meat. And that is what we ate. And it was good. Better than good, really. It took us a while to figure out what we wanted to order, actually had to ask the owner what he recommended, but we eventually got it all figured out. We ordered some beef. The owner/manager/waiter/only other guy in the place not that that was a bad sign because it had just opened for the night and it was still pretty early and people in Osaka seem to eat late placed a bucket of burning embers into the middle of our table. It made me miss camping and fireplaces. The heat of a fire is just so pleasing, so relaxing somehow. We sat and enjoyed the warmth and watched the flames dance.

Which is not to say that it is cold here in Osaka. Far from it. The nights may get a little nippy but when the sun is out the temperature is always in the mid teens. How you guys doin' over there?

After a while the owner brought a fair sized plate of meat to our table. It looked good, it smelled good, it made my stomach rub its hands in anticipation. Good lord, the smell of cooking meat is one of the best scents in all the world. The meat was cut thin so it didn't take very long at all to cook. Which was good, as we were very hungry. In addition to the meat plate he brought us out saucers containing a light sesame sauce of some kind. When the meat was cooked, you dipped it in the sauce to cool it down before chowing down on it. The sauce was also excellent. Everything about that meal was excellent. The warmth of the flame on my face, the smell of good meat cooking, a cold beer in my hand and a gorgeous girl sitting across from me. It doesn't get much better than that. After the meal we exchanged pleasantries with the owner, raved about the food and then came back home for a nap. We will be going back there. Man I wish I was getting paid soon.