Nippon

I had an awesome time in Japan and I wish I had stayed longer! Thanks to the help of another Spelman sister of mine, Tiffany Tyson (gotta love the Spelman network), I was able to find someone in the Greater Tokyo Area who was willing to take me in for the month as a "tenant". Engle Thompson, an American lady who's teaching English through the JET Program in Kasukabe, a suburb of Tokyo, allowed me to share her apartment during my stay. We ended up having quite a bit in common - we both attended HBCUs (she's a Howard alumna), we're both travel addicts, we both love Black men (a favorite late-night topic of ours - ha ha), and we were both in the process of applying to law school - so we hit it off, which was essential because we were living in very close quarters (anyone who's been to Japan will know exactly what I mean).

Unfortunately, the cold that I'd contracted at the end of my Oz trip had turned into bronchitis by the time I got to Tokyo, so I was out of commission for a good week or so at the beginning of my trip, and then I got bronchitis AGAIN during the last week...yeah, and the fact that everyone smokes there didn't help either...So basically my research time was cut down to about two weeks. Nonetheless, I was able to hook up with two salons: Room 806 in Roppongi, and Hallelujah Salon in Harajuku, and I frequented both during my two-week stint.

Room 806 was the first salon to offer Black hair care services in Japan and was opened by an African-American ex-pat. They now have two locations - the other's called The New Sanno. I got a chance to interview the manager at 806, Lee, and he gave me some insight into the Black hair industry in Japan. Apparently, the young people in Japan are just loving Black hairstyles - cornrows, extensions, locks, and even WEAVES! But one of the most interesting things that he told me was that Japanese braiders are giving African braiders in Japan a run for their money, and when he showed me the portfolio of the work done by his Japanese braiders, I could see that he wasn't lying! Their braiding was so incredibly neat - I couldn't believe my eyes - and their styles were hot, too!

At Hallelujah Hair Salon, which is Japanese-run, I got to interview the English-speaking stylist, Shintaro, and he introduced me to the concept of the Japanese Black hair magazine -- in Japan, they have Black hair magazines just like the ones back at home, only the models are Japanese! And they advertise Black hair care products in them too! That's when I realized that the Japanese are really not playing around when it comes to braiding - lol - so I bought a copy because I figured people wouldn't believe me when I told them, and that's been the case so far...The day I interviewed Shin they were giving this Japanese girl some really crazy extensions, incorporating colored yarn and such, but of course, I had left my camera battery charging at the apartment - I was so heated!

I didn't do street interviews like I did in Australia because I was intimidated by the language barrier. In terms of day-to-day life, the language barrier wasn't as much of a hindrance as I had anticipated - I quickly learned how to convey messages using a combination of body language and "Nipponized" English (again, anyone who's been to Japan before will know exactly what I'm talking about); furthermore, all of people that I encountered were extremely patient - even when they had absolutely no idea what I was trying to tell them - they'd always give me enough time to figure out another way to get my message across to them, so that really helped. Also, after a while, I was beginning to recognize important Japanese characters (like the name of my town - oh-so-important for train travel- ha). So even though it was sometimes harder to get things done than it had been in Oz, it really wasn't that bad - what really held me hostage was the yen...ugh