Part 3 of Hiro-o Project

On my third day in Hiro-o, I walked around the same area and looked around for people to interview. There is such a range of people walking on the streets, so it was difficult to choose one person. I found my first interviewee walking with her friend pushing a pram. They were talking rapidly and looked so comfortable in their foreign environment. Their confidence made it almost frightening to approach them. But once I started talking to them, I found out that they were teachers at an international school. They had been living in Japan for a while, but in their minds, they had not assimilated into the culture at all. The two women found it very easy to ive in Hiro-o because they could speak English all the time, and there were many businesses that catered to their (gaijin) needs.

The second person I interviewed was sitting in Segafredo's. I went upstairs to the balcony to have a coffee among more French and Americans. I saw a Japanese man sitting by the exit, reading a French dictionary and looking at a map. I thought this was interesting, but I was unsure whether i should go up to him and talk to him. This was breaking all the rules of Japanese so-called "manners" and I didn't want to cause meiwaku for him. But I did ask to sit with him, and even though he was a little surprised he soon opened up and talked to me about his life and his experiences. He has travelled and lived overseas extensively in his life, so even though he doesn't live in Hiro, he feels at home in Hiro-o. He visits Hiro-o to get away from his work, to immerse himself in foreign culture while still being in japan. He pointed out the contrasting cultures that is so apparent here. There are the old fish shops on the sho-ten-gai, and not so far from there is the Azabu national market where you can still buy Tide, and read Hello magazine. The two women and also this gentleman explained that Hiro-o was unique from Roppongi, because the people in Hiro are more settled, and not like tourists with big cameras that you see in Akihabara or Asakusa. Hiro-o is more a residential area, and unlike Roppongi it doens't really have clubs and bars, so the area is more a "family" area.
After finishing my drink with my new friend in Segafredo's, I walked back to the barber that I checked out yesterday.

The barber was cutting a blonde businessman's hair. I waited on the vinyl couch and looked at his glass case full of baseball players' autographs. After his customer left, I asked him if I could interview him. He seemed used to interviews, and talked about how the barbershop had been run by his family for 100 years. They had lived and worked in Hiro even before the war, and even then there were many foreigners here because of all the embassys that surround the area.
I found it interesting that the barber could not speak any English although he had lived in Hiro all his life. The two women I met before had not assimilated into Japanese culture, and here was another person, who had not assimilated into the foreign culture around him. However, these people were still living side by side, enjoying the environment, working and living their life in Hiro-o.