Meri Kurisumasu! It is now officially Christmas Day here in Yokosuka. I just returned from a Christmas party in Tsukihama which is the beautiful area with the mikon orchards. Today was eventful! I went to work, Obama gave me 4 hours of paid leave so I got my hair cut and then went to see the Nutcracker as performed by the Leningrad ballet. Yes, I went to see the Russian ballet in Japan. It was lovely! Afterward was the party at my boss's house. We ate lumpia (Filipino eggrolls), mabodoku (a tofu and beef dish served with rice, amusingly, this is what Japanese people serve as Chinese food.), sushi, and a few more traditional items like apple pie and ice cream. It was a good time!
So, I've been meaning to post on this for over a week now, but I just barely obtained the pictures for it. I kept forgetting to ask Sheila, my fault, not hers. So about a week ago, Sheila (a coworker and friend) and I went to be outfitted in kimono to take pictures. The whole process took about an hour and a half with a good friend of Sheila's taking photos throughout.
Step one of course was to strip down to basic underwear and a slip. After that, each of the three women (kimono master, her daughter and another apprentice) had a really good laugh about my figure. Apparently, I am the wrong shape. The Japanese like "straight" bodies and "European style is more curvy". This led to what I have been referring to as my rounding out. A sash was used to flatten and plenty of padding was used to fill in the rest. Finally, feeling highly compressed and much larger, I was put into the kimono.
The next step is to arrange the kimono so it falls absolutely right, then to secure it with ties. Following this, an undersash was added before the obi. The obi is the huge belt used to embellish a kimono. These are super ornate and very expensive. There are a virtually unlimited number of ways to tie one. Mine employed a big shiny flower, 2 extra sashes, and a rope. Very pretty! Once this was complete, the kimono master looked me over and decided it was too low. This meant a lot of tugging and very small breaths on my part. Finally the kimono was on and all ladies were satisfied with how it looked.
Before final pictures, they decided my hair needed work and pulled it up into a bun. A scrunchy made of curly brown hair secured it and added style and volume. No the brown did not match, but did I really expect them to keep blonde on hand? This may come as a bit of a shock, but there are no blonde Japanese people. I know, I know... crazy! I'm digressing, I apologize.
The final touches to my hair were green chopsticks and purple flowers. My prop was a gold fan. After a few more photos, I was undressed and back in my normal clothing in astounding time compared to how long it took to be put into the outfit. The nice ladies served us green tea and cookies before we left. Japan is a wonderfully civilized place!!
Coolest toga ever!!!
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