shiraito and a haircut. two bits.

I got my hair cut today at Toni & Guy in shizuoka. thats right. Jealous much? The thing is i've seen the gaijin who have dared the shears of the shears of the samurai barbers. Its never, been shall we say, pretty? But i needed a haircut. Like literally. My job requires that i look status quo. Or at least a reasonable facsimile. So i decided to go all out. i should have received my first real paycheck and i figured id go and get the director's cut (the owner, the head kabob) and not futz around. Well, the fact that japan's mail system makes no sense to me and i couldn't get my bank card and i happen to be at a bank closed on saturdays, i was, to say the least, annoyed. Luckily i had a little bit left in my american account, which thanks to this cut is probably close to bottom of the barrel status.
So on my day off my co-worker and pal, takayuki, picks me up in his phat ride and totes me into shizuoka at 9 in the morning. that's early considering our work keeps us up until midnight.




when we get there i see this. a big drum and some people in snazzy get ups dancing with maracas and other various percussion contrivances. it's japan.




afterwards, i mention how i wanted to go to the waterfalls i heard about. i told him i was going to morrow and asked which bus to take. out of the generosity of his huge heart he drove me the extra 30 minutes to see it.

this is not it. this is a waterfall, but not the waterfall. this is a waterfall with a story. so there were these two bothers that wanted revenge for their dad, but as they planed the assassination of the guy who did the killing first they found themselves unable to hear each other over the sound of the waterfall. so the waterfall goes quiet long enough for them to plan their killing spree and everyone lives happily ever after. except for the dad and the first guy who killed said father. anyway its a nice bedtime story.

the first guy is takayuki. just wanted you to see him. the second guy is me. im pointing at the sign that says something about the story i just told you.

this is the waterfall. pretty huh? don't you just want to go frolic? i didn't take a picture of the fences or the do not enter signs.

a lady selling various things on sticks at the falls.

the name of the waterfall is shiraito falls. it means "white threads". the water all comes from mt. fuji. it is filtered all the way through the rocks to this point. neat deshyou?

and last and probably least, the haircut. not really combed but im not in the mood to get all dolled up for a photo for a blog. there will be more photos of my hair im sure, and i just wanted you to get an idea of how short it was.