Closely Cropped Head

 

  I don’t know what it means in the English-speaking world. In Japan, closely cropping one’s head is a way to express apology. It is not popular, and it is too classic, but it still works.

When I was about 20 years old, I made huge mistakes. I decided to closely crop my head. It was my first time, and it was a fresh experience. Feeling the wind or sunshine on my scalp was a totally new experience.

But I also had a trouble because of the hairstyle.

In those days, I had a part-time job at a restaurant very late at night. Public transportation wasn’t available at midnight. I commute to the restaurant by motorbike. But one day, my motorbike was stolen, but I couldn’t take a break from my job. So I rode a taxi to the restaurant. My daily wage was the same as the taxi fare.

On the first day, after I finished work, I tried to hail a taxi. But all the taxis ignored me. They obviously saw me but went away. This has never happened in my life, and I wondered why. I had a guess: it was because of my closely cropped head. In Japan, people who closely crop their head are usually Buddhist monks, high school baseball players, some extremists, ex-cons, and yakuza. Buddhist monks and high school baseball players would never hail a taxi at night. Taxi drivers were afraid of me because of my hairstyle.

So I wore a hood and hid my head. Then I hailed a taxi, which stopped in front of me. After getting in the taxi, I took off my hood and showed my head to the taxi driver. He was surprised. I told some jokes to help him relax, but I failed. He didn’t even smile at me.

I hope I don’t make any more huge mistakes in my life, and if I do, I want to express my apology in a different way.

Picture by freehandz