horse head

i think that i may have mentioned in a previous post at some point the way in which japanese people can be kind of, well, rude.  except it isnt rude at all, and they certainly dont see it as such, but it is just for them stating the obvious i guess.  i am still getting used to this and upon being the recipient of this honesty it still surprises me and makes me laugh every time. 

it happened again about five minutes ago.

tanaka-san came into the staff room and sang my name out, as only she does "bess-chan! o-bento!".  this means that she wants me to come to the office and order my lunch.  i grabbed a 500 yen coin from my desk and followed her into the office.  this was our first meeting of the day and so naturaly she checked out my attire for the day and asked me how i was feeling.  fine fine fine, all was good i answered as i scribbled my best kanji on the paper and ordered my bento.  i looked up at her and smiled and all of a sudden she said "horse head" to me and motioned to my head.  i thought about it for a second and then realized that she was referring to my hair, which is piled up on top of my head with excessive heighth today.  no, i didnt do this on purpose, and if you know me you know that i never really give my hair-do for the day much thought or effort, in fact todays hair-do was done as i was walking to the bathroom to brush my teeth i think.  i didnt use the mirror or redo it after checking　it out.  it was out of my face and out of my way, whatever.  she said it again and this time i laughed and tried to explain that i wasnt going for the horse head look but just didnt care.  she seemed to like it and so i smiled and tried to accept this strangness as a compliment of sorts.  a good laugh if nothing else, right?

this is kind of the way here.  i have had more people point out red eyes from allergies and such, bags under my eyes after restless nights of no or little sleep, my tan arms (GASP!!!!) and other minor physical things about me which seem out of sorts to them without even considering it would be rude to mention to me as it would be back home.  can you imagine walking up to your ONLY foreign co-worker and saying to them "wow look at how dark the circles under your eyes are!" or "you have a horse head today!".  seriously cracks me up and i dont even know how to respond except to laugh now.  just their way.

**as a side note here, i will mention upon having recently returned from the US and experiencing culture shock there, that japanese people on the whole are VERY polite when it comes to daily everythings, MUCH more so than anywhere i have ever been in the states.  their politeness and consideration for everyone here is ingrained in them and has been and remains a core of their culture here for centuries.  how on earth did these little "rude" comments slip by?  i have no idea, but perhaps that is what makes them even funnier to me now. 

horse head.  i will laugh about this one awhile.