Kimonos and McDonald's

...are two rather unrelated topics.

Yesterday, I asked one of my teachers if it would be OK for me to wear a kimono to graduation (tomorrow). Her reply was one of great hesitation. Yes, it would be fine, of course, but did I know how to put one on? Upon my negative response, she began to backpedal fiercely on her previous "yes."

Now, this is coming from the teacher who supports me the most on practically anything I bring her, so I found this sudden (and yet very Japanese) "I don't think it will work" to be somewhat troublesome. "I wish I had known earlier..." (...than two days in advance?) and "Do you really think it's possible?" became a constant litany in our conversation.

In the end, I figured out the problem: no one knows how to properly put on a kimono. In fact, most of the women on staff pay someone else to help them when they wear more formal attire, an affair that can cost anywhere from $50 to $100. Not only this, but one even has to have a consultation with these "kimono beauticians" (as my teacher called them) beforehand to make sure one has all the right pieces and that they coordinate with each other.

Does anyone else see a problem with this picture? So many things here are treated with such ceremony and with such commitment requirements that few ever seem to learn them. Ikebana, tea ceremony, kimono, kabuki ... and that's just naming a few ... are arts that are losing numbers at such rates that they are dying out as arts. Even saying that, though, something about keeping things traditional does seem to help them hold their magic, even when "magic" translates to "inaccessibility."

In short, I'm wearing Western clothes tomorrow, to my great disappointment. I don't know when the opportunity will arise where I could wear a kimono and "get away with it," but, in all likelihood, it will be at next year's graduation.

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On a completely different note, I went to McDonald's for the first time tonight and spent a buck fifty on a hamburger and a drink "peh-ah" ("pair"). Amusingly, while the burger was what I was used to, the drink was what I would consider to be a children's size, though it may just be that I've not ordered a small drink in a long time. All in all, it tasted the same to me. So much for that!