So Friday night I got a little crazy and went out and pierced something. Actually, it was a long time in the planning, but I couldn't actually make the appointment until this week because of scheduling difficulties. (Note to self: Never believe sharemate when she says she definitely will make an appointment for you and won't forget this time.) My bud Yuka volunteered to come with me and translate the medical details.
The shop itself was kind of a hole in the wall place in the middle of Hondori. I actually never would have guessed it was a piercing/tattoo shop if Tomomi hadn't told me about it. Turns out, there's a reason why it doesn't look like a piercing shop, which I was only to discover later.
The shop owner was very nice to us and proceeded throughout the piercing with a calm thoroughness, telling us all about how the skin healed and what to watch out for. First thing, we went up to the second floor where the shop was set up. (Accompanied by a pomeranian.)
Weirdly, the place reminded me of somewhere run-down in Berkeley of all things. There were psychedelic posters, a human skeleton, new age CDs...Weirdly enough, the shop owner himself seemed more than a little hippy to me. Japanese hippy, if it exists. He had long hair, which he pinned up on his head. And he wore a loose jacket and pants. And those clogs that are used on mountain roads and only have a bar in the middle. Of course, a sizable hole in each earlobe. He looked pretty sketchy but was very polite to us.
While Yuka and I were waiting we noticed a display of plastic body parts with examples of different piercings. Leading to the following exchange:
Me: Wow! So those are all the piercings they do here...
Yuka: Yeah, there's a lot.
Me: Ha, some of them are pretty..."gender specific."
Yuka: Not really. I've seen girls with those tongue studs and nose studs.
Me: I didn't mean that. Look at the far left.
Yuka: ...the ear?
Me: No, next to that. The one standing up.
Yuka: Oh! Hahahaha Oh my gosh.
Me: Owwww I would never do that even if they could. Oh, there's a girl only one in the back, I think...
The explanation went on for over an hour by which point I was like, "Argh I just want to get this over with and eat dinner!" But finally I got the piercing done. I sat on an examining table and the shop owner put marks on my ears to show were the piercing would be. I couldn't feel it at all, even when he poked my ear with a metal rod until my whole ear turned red.
Right before we started the actually procedure, Yuka and I noticed a certificate with English on it. The owner explained that he had gotten the license at a conference in American and in fact is not licensed to work in Japan. Only clinics can do piercing, not private businesses. But he was adamant that you shouldn't get piercing from some doctor who doesn't do it for a living and can't even have piercing himself because of his job. He rationalized the legality of what we were doing by explaining, "This is just my workshop upstairs, and I can give piercings to friends if I want as long as no one sees the money..."
Yeah. Great time to figure out you're doing something illegal.
When he got ready to do the piercing the guy said, "I'm going to say iizou, then you take a deep breath and relax your tension. You can choose when I'll do it. Say yoshi." So I'm like, "OK, I got this." He clamped my ear, I took some deep breaths, and that's when he stuck me with no warning. I was like, "OMG he didn't wait! Oh, well. I guess that was it..." Then I just tried not to watch Yuka's squicked-out expressions as he put the earring in. The next time, I was still taken off guard even though I knew it was coming...
After EVEN MORE explanation we finally paid and got to go with some ointment and the new earrings safely installed. The shop downstairs was closed and the metal curtain rolled down. Which just shows how determined this guy was to give us our money's worth. He actually stayed about an hour after the official closing time.
When we were finally free, Yuka and I went out to eat curry to celebrate, and had a great time.
I've got to wear my earrings for three months, as long as everything goes well, so I tried to choose a cool color. In the end I chose ruby because it's my birthstone and the only other jewelry I wear all the time is a ring which also has rubies in it. Also when I saw it against my ear in the shop the color looked nice with my general skin tone.
So that was my first experience in piercing. Overall, not enough pain to get worked up over. Yuka and I were discussing how everyone expects to feel different after piercing but after the initial rush wears off you realize you're the same person as before. (I *think* coughcough that makes it like losing your virginity. The important change is not the event but becoming the kind of person who's willing to actually go through with it, even though it's scary.)
During dinner, Yuka and I discussed things like living in another country, whether piercing was a rite of passage to adulthood, our experiences with our parents and becoming adults, and so on.
Later that night I showed Tomomi the piercing, and she asked, "That guy!! Did he wait?" And I was like, "NOOO!" And she was like, "It was exactly the same with me. He said iizou and just stuck me!"
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