カリフォルニアに引っ越してきて、はじめてのヘアカットに行きました。家族で第一号。パパは裏切り者で、この前バージニア出張したときに、いつもの行きつけの美容士さんに自分だけ散髪してもらってきたわけ。普段なら父と息子で仲むつまじく一緒に出かけるところ、息子は置いてきぼりで、髪は伸び放題。グループサウンズみたいだったんだけど、そもそもヘアカットが嫌いときたもので、親がいくら髪を切ったほうがいいといっても聞かなかった。ところが、学校で誰かに「頭が大きくみえる」と言われたらしく、「すぐ予約を取って」とのリクエスト。こういうのをピア・プレッシャー（友達間のプレッシャー）というのね。トーランスには日本人経営の美容院がいくつもあるようで、うちの周りだけでも２店あり、そのうちのひとつをトライ。ちゃんと「営業中」と看板がでていたよ。茶髪の若いおにいちゃんが担当してくれました。手短に要望を伝えるとすぐに要領を得て、出来上がりはこのとおり。やっぱり日本人のカットはうまい！（というかアメリカがひどい！）トレーニングとセンスに格段の差がある気がします。チップを入れて26ドルなり。
He had the very first hair cut himself and among the family in California. He and his dad used to go together for a haircut with the same stylist in Virginia. Dad had his just by himself a few weeks ago, when he went to Virginia on business. So the son was left with unmanageably long hair. I tried to talk him to get a haircut but he just hates having one and did not listen to me. One day, though, somebody at school just mentioned that his head looks bigger with the longer hair, and BINGO! He asked me to make an appointment the next day. Nothing works better than peer pressure on 12 year old boy.
There seem to be more than several hair salons run by Japanese here in Torrance. Just around our place, there are two. We decided to try one of them. On the door you find a plate saying OPEN in Japanese. A young Japanese guy with bleached hair came to greet us. We told him our requests in Japanese, and he got it quickly and started working right away. After 30 minutes, voila! I must say that there is a huge gap between American training and Japanese training. He was good. My boy is very picky but he agreed it looks good. $26 including tips.
