work2fly

"Omekase" to the barber. I need to remember that

miamiflyer8

Thanks again for your effort with these posts!

Glad I’m not the only one who can’t answer this question! I have my usual barber shops in a few cities where they know how I get my haircut, but it’s always a pain to go to a new place where I don’t know what the hell to ask for. All I want is to be groomed by the time I walk out 😂😂

intuition

Season 08, Episode 06 - One night in Naha


"One night in Bangkok makes the hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walkin' next to me"


Last episode was the night before christams and I had a night at the pub and got some new experiences and had som prejudices challenged. Now, this isn't Bangkok so one night doesn't make your life change. But maybe it takes two?
My friends asks if I want to do a boys-night with her husband? Absolutely! We haven't socialized that much, but he is nice and I have nothing else planned. I have no idea what is about to go down, and I spend the day peacefully loafing about. The weather is nice. I spend some time watching workers build the stage for a Hello Kitty fuelled Christmas event.


Mother always told you not to buy stuff off the back of a truck, right?

Classic one man entrepreneur selling bento-boxes


This place either is a seafood restaurant or has a serious vermin problem






The day passes and I return to my hotel to get ready for the night.
Around 5 pm he arrives at my hotel, dressed in casual Hawaii shirt and hat. I have actually also chosen some island style wear and we decide to walk to the restaurant. The plan is not complicated; to eat something and have some drinks. He suggest we go to his friend's restaurant. Cool! I didn't know he was this well connected! This sounds perfect and we walk some 20 minutes with some nice expectations.

When we arrive, I am starting to think this is more of a charity visit. The place is tiny. Along one side runs the kitchen, which is an open kitchen with pots and pans hanging on the wall. There are some bar seats along the kitchen. And that's it.
Pots and pans look pretty old, dented and full of sooth. There are planty of pots and pans, so many of them it actually feels more like a store selling used kitchenware than a restaurant.
When we arrive, it's almost like we wake the guy up. My friend tell him we are there to eat and he starts up the kitchen. It's not like there is a menu (that I see) and the guy moves around the kitchen like he's not quite sure where he can find what he is looking for. But we eventually get something. I can't remember what and there are no pictures saved (boys' night rule # 1 - no pictures) but it wasn't bad (nor good) and we are no longer hungry. I'm sure we got plenty of Sake so we are certainly not unhappy.
For the entire duration of our visit there is not one single customer coming in to eat. It is us two, a wall of pots&pans and one out-of-place cook.

Illustration only - Size of restaurant

Behind two aluminium blinds there just might be a restaurant


After an hour and half or so, we are getting ready to move on somewhere for drinks. As usual, I have no idea how and when payment was made and we give our compliments to the chef and hit the streets again. We leave the restaurant in good mood and my friend tells me he wants to take me to a club and it is just down the street. Now, you might think that the restaurant choice would have given me some clues as to what "a club" would be in this context. But I'm just thinking "a club is a club", if I even was giving his suggestion any thoughts at all. I just say 'Good idea!' and tag along down the street.

Weather is still nice and here are two happy gentlemen walking down the street talking about this and that.
Suddenly, without any warning, he turns off the sidewalk and head up a staircase. By my definition, it is in no way a staircase to a business venue, and you could walk past the house a thousand times and not even realise there is an entrance.



Illustration only! (Rule # 1, remember? Also, I don't want anyone trawling the streets of Naha trying to find the place )


We're on the second floor of what, to me, looks very much like a residential building. We knock on an unmarked door. A few moments later, we are inside and enter a very narrow hallway of what, to me, look very much likes an apartment hallway. But there are no lights and it's so dark you can't really tell what this place is or isn't.
At the end of the hallway, there are some shimmering lights. My head grew heavy, my sight grew dim...

Ah, sorry. I couldn't quite decide if 'Bangkok' or 'California' pop-reference was the most suitable for this episode. While there was no pink champagne on ice, this clearly was the passage to somewhere my friend had been before. So to get into the right mood as a short lady shows us the way through the dark corridor, we need this:

We now enter a windowless room that looks like a living room. There is a couch (that seats 2) and a table (that seats maybe 4). The walls are sparsely decorated. The rest of the floor of the small room is open space. The light is dimmed and I get a flashback to high school youth centers (fritidsgård) where kids were supposed to go for games and activities but at least the cool kids ended up on the make-out-couch.

On the other side of the room is a full mahogany bar. By full I mean it fills the room. Remember - it is a small room, so the bar till is maybe 3 meters. There are 4 bar stools and that's it.



(illustration only)



By full I also mean fully stocked. It is just like any commercial establishment (albeit one from the seventies) with shelf after shelf with bottles of spirits, liquors, juices, mixers. There is an overhead beam, and from it glasses for long-drinks, cocktails, wine, well pretty much anything, hangs.
We take a seat at the bar (driving the occupation rate up from zero to fifty percent!) and the tiny lady from the corridor now magically appears behind the bar. (There is a door to another room that connects behind the bar). She immediately serves us some small plates of "Amuse bouche". We order some drinks. We never order anything to eat, but she keeps feeding us. With every drink and in between, small plates of strange snacks arrive. I have no idea what it is, but my friend tells me to eat whatever is served. It will be good for us, he says. Oh, he so has done this tour before!

After a few drinks with the spirits getting even higher, my friend points up, to the bar beam. Now I notice there is a small TV-screen hanging. He grabs the remote control and starts to scroll through the menu system. Oh no, I think to my self. Please God no, not the sports. Anything that doesn't require me to fake an interest in sports is better.

Strangely enough, my wish is granted. It's not the sports. Instead of frantic commentary and ubiquitous slow motion replays in at least 4 dimensions I now see long lists of...

Only now do I realise where this is heading. I curse myself for not being specific enough when praying. Because now I notice the microphones...

Karaoke!

My friend gets his way. Not just because he is in charge of the remote. But because he actually selects "My way".

And he sings it like a champ. The end notes could lift the roof
- I did it MYYYY WAAAAYYYY!

I'm seriously impressed. This tiny, low key man sings it like the world can throw away their Sinatra CDs.

Now the remote goes to me. I'm slightly hesitant, but my friend convinces me it is just for fun.
- It is just you and I here. Doesn't matter if you are good or bad, just go for it.

I realise he is right. This is about "letting one's hair down", to make a fool of yourself, to be allowed to fail in a society based on perfect performance. The Japanese perfection wouldn't exist without sake doused karaoke sessions. It's Yin and Yang


I press the buttons of the remote but can't even find my way through the menu system. A system of what looks like 2 million songs. Categories, styles, artists. I try to navigate the catalogue in vain but I don't even know what I'm looking for.
- There are no songs I know, I complain.
- No no, there is everything! Just say something, and we'll find it! , my friend replies enthusiastically.

I give up my feeble attempts to get out of the situation, gather some courage and say:
- Is there anything with Utada Hikaru?

My friend looks at me with respect, hands over the remote to the bar lady who flips through the system for a while, before loading a second DVD with another gazillion songs.
Right, of course. There is an Utada-section. She steps slowly through all the song titles until I give her a thumps up. Play is pressed and the mic is handed to me. To the soft intro music of a classic Utada ballad, I gulp my drink and get ready.

Damn, the lyrics are set in kanji. (Duh! Of course they are - I wasn't thinking clearly and got fooled by Sinatra songs obviously being subtitled in English)
OK, OK. I'm doing a song of a skilled vocal artist and I'm doing it blindly. This kanji-debacle isn't growing my confidence. Well, I say to my self as the yellow marker moves closer to kanjis I've never seen before, I have a pretty good memory for song lyrics. I might know some of the words by heart. Here goes nothing.

Tomodachi demo, koibito demo..

It is terrible. Yes, I do remember some words, but ... Let me put this in a classic Japanese vague way of critiquing and just say my vocal range isn't entirely matching hers.

In hindsight I should have asked for a classic western song and I could have gotten away with any error, wording or tune. But now I massacre a famous artist and the language.

My friend is supportive though!
- Well done!
and
- Those are really difficult kanji!

OK, I feel a bit better, apparently I'm faking it decently. And just like he said, we're the only ones here. Ganbaru!

By the end of second chorus I notice there are new guests in the club. Two middle-aged women has arrived, in high spirits. They sit down on the only two stools left and get some drinks and snacks. There really is no escaping in a 4-stool bar inside a tiny Japanese living room converted to a speak easy, but I hide my face as much as possible as I finish the song. In nowhere near the style of the champ sitting next to me.

The drinks are now doing their bit, and I am not feeling any shame. Dizzy, yes. Shame no. My friend suggest we take a break from the bar and head for the sofa.

One of the ladies ask the bar lady for some music (non-karaoke) and start making the rounds. Well, neither the apartment nor the selection of men is that big. We are basically 2 men and 2 women in a dimly lit shoebox. Meaning she soon arrives at the couch where the only two men are hiding with their drinks. And she wants to dance.

From here, nothing is done in the vague unobtrusive Japanese way. It is not polite, not low-key, not shy. She wants to dance, she wants to do it with me and she's not going to take a no for an answer.
And forget all you know about personal space too. She grabs me and pulls me tight and onto the "dancefloor". She is tiny, 1,50 tall and 50 kg and surprisingly intense. We are now doing some disco dance with her securing me in a firm ballroom dance grip.

This boys night out is shaping up! We're fed, we're drunk and now were are getting some action!

But, as so often in Japan, confusion starts to build.
First thought: Are these ladies... professionals? I quickly dismiss that notion, they do not look or act the part. For all I can tell, they are just like us out for a good night on the town.

But then, I start to wonder along another line. Is this coincidental, or is this the real reason my friend suggested we came here? Did he know or maybe even plan we'd meet ladies here, out of the public eye? But he's married with kids and it was his wife who suggested we go out, so it seems far fetched. Still, not impossible though. If I only knew what he is doing this instant.

I try to look around the room to see where he is and what he is doing. Maybe they're snogging already? That would be the definite answer to what this actually is.
It looks like they are both on the couch, but keeping their distance.

Next thought is - OK, maybe it still is a setup but just for me. He's the good host, bringing me to the battlefield and acting my wingman throughout the night?

While trying to sort all these thoughts, music slows down and the grip is getting tighter. It doesn't take many bars of music before we both are certain the other one is anatomically correct, so to say.

So wingman... how does that work here? Will he and the other lady soon come up and say 'they've just realised the time and must be heading back, but no need for us to end the night just yet'? Or should we make up some excuse and leave early? Probably the first option, as that would give us plausible deniability. If we leave first, everyone will know we left together, but if we leave last, tomorrow we can smile and lie and everyone can pretend they believe us when we say we left 10 minutes later separately and nothing happened.

OK, so maybe the two wingmen soon will bail on us. Then what? Will she take the initiative? She has been pretty resourceful up until now, but it doesn't really fit my mental model of hookups in Japan. The man is supposed to be the convincing part. Am I to be very straightforward and suggest we head back to my hotel? I know talking about a hotel is usually way too obvious, maybe I should smooth it over and offer a late cup of tea?

And the confusion is not just about what and when to say something. Mind you, I haven't spoken a single word to this lady, I have no idea if she speaks any English. Sure, I know some dirty words in Japanese and I am drunk, but not drunk enough to think obscenity is going to be sexy.

OK OK, maybe I am that drunk. Because things are getting pretty hazy right about here. I think the dance ends up on the (make-out) couch and I think my friend and the other lady have found a dining table and chairs, slightly better lit than the couch area, and are sitting discussing something over there, away from us.

The next thing I clearly remember is that my friend and I are back on the street, alone. Not sure when, why or who broke up the party, but it's done and the night is ending.

The night is crisp and the cool air is clearing my head. It is late, we had a full boys night out and there is no disappointment in heading back. It actually feels nice to return to the hotel alone and just sleep. We had a long, fun, odd, and most of all a genkii night out. My friend takes the lead and for some reason he has chosen not to walk the same bigger road that took us here. Instead we are walking through the narrow alleyways.

The alleys are not as deserted as you'd think. Maybe there is another club somewhere near, because I now notice there are other party goers in the alley. Not in a western way, it is not noisy at all, it is just some groups of drunk people are hanging in the street, getting some fresh air or whatever.
Sitting on the sidewalk is a young woman, I'm guessing early 20's. Maybe she says something to us or signals us in some way, I can't exactly remember why we stop but we do. She looks me straight into the eyes. Her eyes are wide open allowing me to see into her soul. I don't know if it is by spoken words or intuition but from the exchange I have with her, I sense she's in distress.
She's really drunk. Drunk to the point where she might get into serious trouble. I turn to my friend and I'm like "We really need to put her in a Taxi" and he is like "We really need to get the hell out of here".
I look around and now I realise there are others, watching her and watching us. It is not immediately threatening to me, but I get the sense that some predators are circling the prey, and they don't like us interfering. I realise this is a situation where I need to trust my friend, and we leave the scene.

The scene will never leave me, though.

SPBanker

Bravo! Or, kampai!

NoWindowSeat

Thanks again for taking the time and effort, truly great read! 🙏

Purserin painajainen

Love reading these, captivating stories 👏

LoungeEnthusiast

Thanks for taking the time to write these, I very much enjoy reading them!

Storizontal Habilizer

What a read! I think a quick turn to Japan to quench the thirst if of necessity in the coming months Never been to Naha either..

intuition

Season 8, episode 7 - Time travel (where would you be now)

Two nights in Naha has made the hard man humble. By now, I've come to the conclusion that my language skills are not sufficient to explore all opportunities. And the solution is not to double down on book studies. No no, what I need is a phrase-book. You know the old style with themed sections of curated sentences for touristy needs. Those were popular in the parent- or grandparent-generation, travelling Europe in the 50's / 60's with more confidence than proficiency.

Even long after the trips, phrase knowledge was kept alive by repeating them in the home and here are some phrases that was passed down to the younger generation.
Avete una camera doppia? Ein gross bier bitte, aber schnell! Il y a un appartement à louer, n'est-ce pas ?

Well, maybe not that middle one. But you get the picture. So at 18, with a car and a confidence, I myself got me a few of those books and travelled Europe. It seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But I'm not sure which was the worst case of over-confidence on my part: "speaking" italian from a phrase book or driving a scrapyard-ready FIAT across Europe.

History repeats itself once more and here in Naha I find the best phrase-book ever. Not only does it have all the usable sections and then some, it also comes with 2 CDs so I can perfect my pronunciation.
The phrase book is of course a Japanese-to-English phrase book, meaning it is keyed in Japanese only and intended to be used by a native Japanese speaker going abroad. Despite the challenges to read it, I chose to see this as a perk - because this means the editor has collected every phrase a Japanese person could possibly ever want to say when abroad. So it is not just a collection of phrases, but travel the phrases being top-of-mind for a Japanese person.

How great was it? I can't really describe in words. But I think showing a few of the 287 pages falls under fair usage.

Let me start with some important everyday stuff from the section "Onboard the air plane"




The phrase collection for flirting, relationships and intimates is comprehensive. No reason to shy away from tricky questions anymore.



And to satisfy the readership ( work2fly miamiflyer8 ) there are multiple pages devoted to what to say at the barber:


As a bolding guy, that last sentence would be a hoot to try.


Christmas is over and with that the time has come to enter the next phase of this trip and I depart Naha. I enjoy the priority boarding working flawless, and it is not just people being more polite and accepting to wait their turn, it is also very clearly communicated with signs and calls.



Some planespotting on arrival in HND - a military 747 looking good.




The next few flights are China Southern. A very decent fare will take me HND-CAN-MEL rt, with a long layover on the return qualifying for a free transit visa and a hotel stay in Guangzhou.
The first 4 hour shorthaul hop to CAN is served by a 4 class A330. Sure, I would have liked to be in one of the 4 F seats but I am not that disappointed to "slum it out" on row 3 in business. It is a solid product.




Arriving into CAN, it is slightly chaotic and basically no identifiable lanes at transit checkpoint, but once I get closer to the actual gates the lines are clearer and signage shows clearly where to do landside transit with accommodations. I snap a picture for future reference, before I move to a lane for transit passengers.




The longhaul configured A333 from CAN to MEL has an older cabin. It does the trick but does not signal premium in the year 2016.
One odd thing is that the armrest actually removes quite a lot of useful width. Instead of bulging out in the available space it bulges in and makes the seat even more narrow.





Menu wise though, they do seem to have looked quite a bit at western menu structure, and main meal has hors deuvre, soup, entree(main), cheese, dessert and finally fresh fruit.



Breakfast is structured with "prelude" plus entree(main) and snack bar items are available throughout the flight.






I spend 4 nights in MEL, not much recollection of that but I did stroll around the botanical gardens and ended up with a reminder that this is one of the few countries where I actually need sunblock.




Anyway, who cares about such worldly stuff, when time travel lies ahead?
Because from here, I have yet another side trip. As the fourth individual ticket in my active portfolio, I hold a NZ ticket, a side-trip to the side-trip to the side-trip. Not just that, it is the magic paper that will let me celebrate New Year's Eve twice this year.





MEL-AKL-RAR rt, leaving Melbourne on 31.st, taking me to Auckland for a new years eve party with a proper countdown and fireworks, and then taking me to one of the cook islands in good time for a new year's eve party.

Sure, time travel might seem trivial after seeing this but it is kind of a Columbus's egg. Without the Concorde it is difficult to find flights that moves you westward quicker than the earths rotation so opportunity to celebrate multiple new year's was gone. Going eastwards and gaining time is impossible, except when crossing the date-line going east where you instantly gain 23 hours.

New year's eve, number 1
So I have one day in Auckland, I want to be in the smack middle of action and also qucikly get in and out. Queen street is then the place to be, the airport bus comes and goes here quickly and I have previous experience of a hotel called Grand Windsor. The entrance is grand, but rooms are more modest. Location is good and my previous experience was OK so I book without hesitation. This time around though, I get probably one of the worst rooms they've got.





These days Grand Windsor has a new name ('Fable Auckland'), it has been renovated, labled "luxury" and the entrance remain the same giving a great first impression. But I do wonder if they still have broom closet rooms.


CBD is a good place as any to do the celebration, and the area around the viaduct basin is pretty much a copy of many cities efforts to commercialise docks. Restaurants and pubs on the base floor and exclusive apartments and hotels on top. The docks area has one more advantage - the sky tower is easily visible from here. Countdown number 1 commences and a great fireworks display is included.

On my way back to the hotel some younger people strike up conversation with me, and they are surprised to hear I've come here for New Year's literally from the opposite side of the globe. They offer to share some of their best grass to celebrate the arrival of a traveller.

Now, you might think this event is the reason for chosing a theme song by the Doobie brothers. But the actual motive for the theme song is revealed later and I am just using it as a good segue, a smooth transition in the story to introduce the episode theme song:

"Down around the corner
A half a mile from here
You see them long trains runnin'
And you watch them disappear

Without love
Where would you be now
Without love

You know I saw Miss Lucy
Down along the tracks
She lost her home and her family
And she won't be comin' back

Without love
Where would you be right now
Without love"



This eve there are a lot of people on the streets of Auckland and it is pretty noisy the entire night - not just all the aircon units on my balcony. But I get a few hours of sleep and the next morning it is very quite in the city. 2017 is looking good so far, and I take a few serene pictures of the docks before jumping on the airport bus for my 08.50 time travel.

A magical morning light is the backdrop to several machines outside the lounge.




NZ offers some food on the time journey. They have a fairly complicated ticket type system, with different types including different onboard services. I do wonder how they manage to fulfil that IRL, and when I pass the galley I see they actually have system support for it. (Remember, this is 2017 so it seems pretty ahead of time)
Someone have left the screen in a logged in state, so I do get a chance to upgrade me to a better deal! Doing self-upgrade without having to sneak into the wrong cabin, can it get any better? But I'm way to much of a good boy to try it.



Time travel is very smooth and without the moving map I wouldn't have noticed passing of the date line. Not that I expected to be presented with the Imperial Order of the Golden Dragon - that's just for sailors.




Rarotonga is of course an island, but I still feel the need to point this out. Because as soon as one lands, you realise your on "island time". This has nothing to do with time travel - Island time is the concept of time having less meaning in a place where you can't really go anywhere and you can't really affect how long anything is going to take. I guess it would be annoying for a time controlled westerner to live in such concept but for a holiday maker it is heaven.



- Did it take long time to collect your bags?
- I have no idea how long it took, but it felt like a happy moment.



I cross the single lane main road by foot and after a 20 meter walk I arrive at my hotel. I get a twin bed room. Hm, I prefere a double even when travelling alone. But rest assured each single bed is about 2 meters wide.
Resetting my body to island time, I eat a fish and chips, drink a beer and have no idea how long I sit there and watch the endless ocean and waves breaking.

New years's eve #2
Today there is a party bus. I goes around the island and stops at different hotels and restaurants. It sounds like a great idea, having some fun, meeting some people, seeing the island and getting some drinks.
I start the evening at the hotel, and the large pagoda bar on the beach edge is cleared and turned into a disco. It is a one man band, but the guy can really play anything. Sure, there is a touch of marimba band and island rhythms to everything. But it is good party music

There is even an international dance contest between locals (Avaroa), New Zealand and Samoa ...


The party bus arrives, and I'm ready to hop on, but suddenly I decide to stay.
As the night progresses, the music does get more to my realm and just before midnight we get an *extended* version of Long train running. Floor is like crazy (OK OK, still in a island way) and the version never seems to end.


The reason for the extended version is we are nearing midnight and the band is timing the 23:59 mark.
".. without looo-oo-ove, where would you be nooo-oo-oow"
and we are called upon to do the countdown. I get ready to capture the moment on film - I'm thinking it will be a fun side-by-side comparison to last year's NY (last night in Auckland)

But as the band leader calls out "grab our loved ones" my documentation gets interrupted. Someone has noticed I am alone. I am grabbed, dragged into a gang, we do the countdown and I get a hug from a stranger. "Without love, where would you be now?"

The cheers for a new year is drowned by island style "Celebrate" (Kool and the gang) and the impromptu group is dissolved.
Indeed, without love, where would I be now.

For the last time in my life, 2016 has turned into 2017. Mission accomplished. Should I maybe go to bed to get into decent shape for my departure later today?
Nah, it is literally a 2 minute walk to the airport, so I can basically sleep until boarding starts. Besides, my room with the 2 2-meter beds are next to the dance pagoda, so I'm not going to get any sleep anyway. The night is warm, the music is crazy and the drinks are plenty. 2017 is shaping up! Again.

miamiflyer8

That phrasebook cracked me up, especially the vocab while flying 😂😂😂

I visited Japan for the first time last year and definitely want to explore more, let’s see if I’ll try getting a haircut on my next trip!

SPBanker

Wow, that phrasebook is something else! "We're seeing other people behind each other's backs." Just something one might slip into idle conversation with a stranger in a hotel bar!