Good morning 0513

 It’s a nice day again today. After the pollen season, I often air out my futon. YUKI does it too, no matter the season.

Airing futons is part of Japanese culture, but these days people living in newer condominiums are usually not allowed to hang them outside.

Today, I’m going to practice putting on a kimono so I can wear one when I meet my friend this Saturday. If I can manage it well enough, I might go to a department store in it today with YUKI. If not, I’ll just go in the same outfit as yesterday.

Good morning 0512

 Today is my performance day with a friend at KARAKU Cafe. It’s a beautiful day. I’m going to wear white pants today, which is unusual for me. When I wear white pants, I feel a little more refined, and because I don’t want to get them dirty, I pay more attention to my movements.  But this year, I’d like to wear them more often—even when we go to an Italian restaurant.

Good morning 0511

 

by Yuki

by Mieko

A normal week has started. Last week, YUKI couldn’t have chemotherapy, but today his condition isn’t so bad. It’s difficult to balance the treatment and its side effects.

Good morning 0510

 In about 30 minutes, we will go out. Where? To the laundromat.

This morning, as soon as we got up, we took our futons and sheets there, and now the machines are running. We need to go and take them out soon. They probably won’t be completely dry yet, so we’ll hang them out to air. Fortunately, the pollen season is over, so I can finally air out my futon.

At the same time, our washing machine at home—without a dryer—is also running. Today is definitely a laundry day.

On the other hand, I organized our clothes. Decluttering Yuki’s clothes is easy, because I just threw away his M-size items—mainly business shirts and golf shirts—with his permission, of course. 

In my case, it’s not so easy. So I checked what I wore this week. These days, the temperature has been different every day—one day I wore a sweater, another day a cotton long-sleeve T-shirt. I had already sorted my clothes into winter and summer, but this time I added a mid-season category. I also reviewed outfit combinations and tried to get a clear idea of what I actually have and what I really wear.

Now, it’s time to go out.

Good morning 0508

Japanese hair salons going bankrupt in record numbers 

Yesterday I talked about the article “Japanese hair salons going bankrupt in record numbers” with a friend in English. She asked me about the issue, but I didn’t know much about it. Apparently, it is mainly happening in big cities like Tokyo.

However, I think a similar situation is occurring not only in big cities but especially in rural areas as well, though not going bankrupt. In rural areas, the population is decreasing, so the number of customers is also declining. Of course, large chains and big salons have not expanded much into such places. Beauticians or barbers own their shops and run them by themselves. In many cases, that is enough because there were not originally so many customers there.

Since young people often do not inherit their family farms, they tend to leave rural areas. As a result, most customers are elderly people, and many salon owners are elderly as well. Therefore, both customers and salons may gradually disappear over time.

In mid-sized cities like Utsunomiya, however, I feel that the number of salons is actually increasing. Most of them are not large salons. More than half seem to be individually run, and many are operated by husbands and wives together. Sometimes only one of them is a barber or beautician, while the other works to support their living expenses. In addition, these salons are often opened in part of their own house, so they do not have to pay shop rent.

Going back to the earlier point, expensive rent is probably one of the reasons why it is difficult for beauty salons and barbershops to survive in big cities.

In addition, more hairstylists and barbers are now visiting nursing homes or elderly people’s homes to cut hair instead of working only in salons. They are called visiting hairstylists or mobile hairstylists, and part of the cost can be covered by Japan’s long-term care insurance system.

Although the number of salons themselves may be decreasing, hairstylists and barbers will probably continue to have stable jobs because people can rely on their skills, even as AI becomes more widespread.

Good morning 0507

 “All right” is always how I start this blog. And actually, we are all right today, too.

But to tell the truth, lately either of us has often been in a bad mood. This morning, it was Yuki — probably because of the heaviness and fatigue he feels in the mornings.

Still, the long holiday is over now, so our usual routine is starting again: hospital visits, shopping and sometimes lunch out, and the gym. We have things to do, so maybe from today we won’t even have time to stay in a bad mood.

So, although it may sound a little strange, we are all right.

My friend stopped by with some flowers.

Good morning 0506

 It is the last day of this five-day weekend.

Yesterday, our younger daughter M and our granddaughter A came to visit. Unfortunately, YUKI wasn’t as energetic as usual, so the three of us ladies went to a supermarket and bought some delicatessen food.

Since there were five of us, we needed more food than YUKI and I usually buy.

Our elder daughter joined us via video call. Starting next weekend, her solo exhibition will be held in Tokyo for one month. YUKI and I won’t be able to go, but M, A, and another friend are planning to visit on the first day.