2019年03月28日
Save the seats
Last Saturday, I went to the mall for a haircut. My stylist is a pretty nice guy who knows me pretty well. He's cut my hair since I first hovered nervously in the salon's doorway, timidly asking for a haircut. I get my hair cut twice a year.
My stylist surprised me by remembering our last conversation about movies. He threw down an entertainment magazine and we talked about a lot of the pages enthusiastically. I used to see movies about 4 times a month so it was nostalgic for me.
My friends and I used to go to a bookstore called Borders. It was a little expensive but was big and had a large selection. They were the first mainstream place that I saw selling manga. In Japan, it's okay to stand around and read books, but in Michigan it was a little frowned upon. The worry was that if you were reading it, you wouldn't buy it. That was quite true! I read a few different series in the bookstore.
We would go to Borders about an hour before our movie. We would enjoy some coffee and look at magazines (carefully) and discuss movies and TV shows coming out. Then we would drive up a hill to the theater, get our tickets, and rush into the room to grab our seats.
Most theaters I went to, did not have assigned seating. I had to stressfully claim a bunch of seats in the middle of the row. There was an unwritten rule that if you put down your purse or coats on a seat, then it was yours. I often stayed behind to "save seats" while my friends went back for food and drinks.
It's nice not having to worry about grabbing a seat when I go to the movies in Japan. But have regretted my choice a few times and wished I could have moved.
My stylist surprised me by remembering our last conversation about movies. He threw down an entertainment magazine and we talked about a lot of the pages enthusiastically. I used to see movies about 4 times a month so it was nostalgic for me.
My friends and I used to go to a bookstore called Borders. It was a little expensive but was big and had a large selection. They were the first mainstream place that I saw selling manga. In Japan, it's okay to stand around and read books, but in Michigan it was a little frowned upon. The worry was that if you were reading it, you wouldn't buy it. That was quite true! I read a few different series in the bookstore.
We would go to Borders about an hour before our movie. We would enjoy some coffee and look at magazines (carefully) and discuss movies and TV shows coming out. Then we would drive up a hill to the theater, get our tickets, and rush into the room to grab our seats.
Most theaters I went to, did not have assigned seating. I had to stressfully claim a bunch of seats in the middle of the row. There was an unwritten rule that if you put down your purse or coats on a seat, then it was yours. I often stayed behind to "save seats" while my friends went back for food and drinks.
It's nice not having to worry about grabbing a seat when I go to the movies in Japan. But have regretted my choice a few times and wished I could have moved.
