Always Learn The Language

This story is about a real incident written by my wife that happened to her in Japan. The story of the importance of learning the language. We’ve  kept it as real as she can remember. It has not been altered. Hope you enjoy it.

My husband works for a Japanese company, which has moved us across the country many times. It was always difficult getting situated in a new place and learning about the new areas, but the hardest one was when they us sent us to live in Japan for a year.

As this was a temporary basis, they had us live in a 2 family apartment house that had English speaking neighbors who also worked for the company and were there to help us navigate the city.

I’d always had some sort of a a bob hairstyle, as it was my favorite style. Knowing it would take time to get acclimated in a new country, I had it cut just before we moved, so I wouldn’t need a trim for a while.

After living in Sapporo for 3 months, I’d learned how to navigate the shopping square Tanukikoji. Although very few people spoke English, I learned how to make purchases.

Around that time, my hair began to look unruly. I needed to get my bob trimmed, but I didn’t know where to go. I’d seen some salons, but didn’t know which one was good.

I’d asked my English speaking neighbor where would be a good place to get a bob trim, but she didn’t know. She had long, to her waist length hair and never went to a salon to get her hair cut. She would just trim the ends herself when needed.

One day, while having lunch in the Tanukikoji shopping area, a group of teen school girls sat at the table next to me. I noticed one girl did not look Asian. I leaned over and asked if anyone spoke English. The girl I directed it to did not respond, but another girl replied that she spoke some English. I told her I’d just moved to Sapporo and was looking for a good place to get a bob haircut.

The girl started relaying my question in Japanese to her friends. They spoke amongst themselves for a few moments. The girl then directing me to go to Tokiori Salon. She said to tell them that I wanted a Bourukatto haircut.

I asked what is a Bourukatto? She told me a Bourukatto is a bob hairstyle.

Armed with this information, I found the salon. It seemed like a nice place when I entered. It had an Asian decor with only three chairs. One woman was sitting in a chair getting her hair dyed by one of the stylists. An older Japanese woman was standing nearby. As I walked in, they all stared at the American with the unruly Bob haircut. The older Japanese woman greeted me. With the few words I knew in Japanese, said hello, and told her I wanted a Bourukatto haircut.

She escorted me to the chair and placed a lovely floral caped on me. She began by using clips to section my hair. I could see she sectioned it on the sides just above my ears.

I then heard the humming of clippers. I felt a comb on my neck and heard the clippers cutting, but didn’t feel the clippers. It was only when she moved to the sides that I saw her remove the bulk of my hair using the clipper over comb method. She then changed the clipper attachment and started buzzing the sides and back of my head.

This had initially caused concern because I could now see my ears. But when she took out all of the clips and combed my hair down, my hair was still bobbed, but undercut. I figured Asian women had thick hair, and this must be common practice for it to lay flat, so I wasn’t too concerned.

She then combed my hair down all around and in front of her face. Due to it length, my hair covered my eyes and I could not see. I then felt scissors touch my forehead at the temple. Within an instant the scissors glided across my forehead restoring my vision. I now had bangs that ran from temple to temple!

I was shocked to see my face opened up. I hadn’t had bangs in 10 years. Without thinking, I blurted out in English , “I didn’t ask for bangs, why did you give me bangs?“. The stylist looked confused and had no idea what I was saying, as she did not understand English. She simply nodded and ignored me.

She then started working on one side. I’d noticed it was getting shorter and shorter. My hair went from below chin length to mid ear. I thought to myself, this is going to be short, but at least I won’t need another cut for a while.

The stylist then went to work on the other side making it to match. At that point, I thought she was done. My bangs ran to my temples, then dropped down to mid ear. I was unsure of the back looked, as I hadn’t seen it, but I was sure it was short, since  I felt her shape the neck with an edger. I began regretting coming to this salon, as my hair was pretty short, but the bangs looked ridiculous.

It was then the stylist picked up a long comb and the clippers. She placed the comb from my temple straight across the top of the ear, then, using a comb as a guide, buzzed off the hair beneath the comb, exposing my ear completely.

I was shocked. I could now see a bowlcut forming. Again, without thinking, I blurted out in English “Are you  giving me a bowl cut?” Still confused, the stylist again nodded, smiled and continued forming a straight line all the way around my head.

She then wet down my hair with a spray bottle and blew dried it with a round brush, turning the ends slightly under. Once dried, she went back with a scissor, snipping away any stray hairs under the bowl line.

When she was done, the stylist proudly held up a mirror to show me my hair, saying with a smile, “Bourukatto” I pointed to my hair and said “Bourukatto?” The stylist nodded. I looked over at the other two women in the salon who were staring at me. I paid the stylist and went home mortified.

When I saw my neighbor, she was surprised to see my new hairstyle. I explained that I was told by some girls to go to a salon and ask for Bourukatto. The neighbor looked shocked and explained to me the girls played a trick on me and made me ask for a bowlcut. I was never so humiliated in my life. That was the first, and last haircut I got in Japan.

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