Yesterday a few friends and I got together and we were talking about pierced ears. Actually we were trying to convince one friend to get her ears pierced but she is afraid to do it.
I got my ears pierced when I went away to college. My mother wouldn't let me do it when I was in high school and so the first month I was away in a dormitory I went and got my ears pierced. I've been happy ever since and really the only jewelry that I like to change and shop for are earrings. It is interesting to me that what seems like fun earrings in the States I will wear in Japan and feel very out of place. Too big and heavy or showy or something. When I'm in Japan I tend to wear conservative posts or delicate drop earrings.
It is only in the past 10 years or so that pierced ears have become popular in Japan. For years it was almost impossible for me to buy pierced earrings and the only earrings available were clip ons. Tetsu has never liked pierced ears and he has said that if I hadn't had my ears pierced long before I met him he wouldn't have allowed it. (As if I am going to let him tell me what he ALLOWS or not!)
When Leiya got to be jr. high school age she started talking about getting her ears pierced. More and more girls were doing it but there was still a stigma associated with the fashion. Only "bad" girls got their ears pierced and a girl would be excluded from school activities if it was discovered she'd had them done. I had even heard of private high schools that wouldn't accept applications if they found out that the girl had pierced ears. Whether we agreed with school policies or not, it seemed foolish to limit the high school choices so until Leiya made the decision to go to an American high school, NO PIERCED EARS!
Even Tetsu agreed to let Leiya get her ears piered when she got to the States, but NOTHING ELSE! No multiple piercings. No tattoos! And I gave her a good lecture on "getting an inch and wanting a mile". The summer that I took Leiya to the States to start her American high school life, we stepped off the airplane, came back to my mother's house and weren't there more than an hour than we were off to the mall to get Leiya's ears pierced. I even taped it on video! Good. Now Leiya feels like an all-American high school student.
Back in Japan a month or so later, I get an e-mail from Leiya and she mentioned that she'd gotten her ears pierced again!!! What was my lecture about multiple piercings? You'd better believe that I sent an un-happy e-mail back to her but there wasn't much I could do about it since the deed was done and I was back in Japan. And I guess I had done the same sort of thing once I'd gotten out from under my mother's watchful eyes some 35 years earlier.
This summer Leiya and I had a good time together but we did have an argument when I discovered she'd pierced her ear AGAIN! So now she has 5 holes in her ears! I suppose there could be worse places she might want to pierce but still I'm not happy and I had to break the news to Tetsu with utmost care... Leiya may have sealed her fate with spending the rest of her life in the States because Tetsu doesn't think she will be seriously considered for any job in Japan if she adorns herself further.
Still, I did buy Leiya some earrings for her upcoming birthday. But I only bought two.
I got my ears pierced when I went away to college. My mother wouldn't let me do it when I was in high school and so the first month I was away in a dormitory I went and got my ears pierced. I've been happy ever since and really the only jewelry that I like to change and shop for are earrings. It is interesting to me that what seems like fun earrings in the States I will wear in Japan and feel very out of place. Too big and heavy or showy or something. When I'm in Japan I tend to wear conservative posts or delicate drop earrings.
It is only in the past 10 years or so that pierced ears have become popular in Japan. For years it was almost impossible for me to buy pierced earrings and the only earrings available were clip ons. Tetsu has never liked pierced ears and he has said that if I hadn't had my ears pierced long before I met him he wouldn't have allowed it. (As if I am going to let him tell me what he ALLOWS or not!)
When Leiya got to be jr. high school age she started talking about getting her ears pierced. More and more girls were doing it but there was still a stigma associated with the fashion. Only "bad" girls got their ears pierced and a girl would be excluded from school activities if it was discovered she'd had them done. I had even heard of private high schools that wouldn't accept applications if they found out that the girl had pierced ears. Whether we agreed with school policies or not, it seemed foolish to limit the high school choices so until Leiya made the decision to go to an American high school, NO PIERCED EARS!
Even Tetsu agreed to let Leiya get her ears piered when she got to the States, but NOTHING ELSE! No multiple piercings. No tattoos! And I gave her a good lecture on "getting an inch and wanting a mile". The summer that I took Leiya to the States to start her American high school life, we stepped off the airplane, came back to my mother's house and weren't there more than an hour than we were off to the mall to get Leiya's ears pierced. I even taped it on video! Good. Now Leiya feels like an all-American high school student.
Back in Japan a month or so later, I get an e-mail from Leiya and she mentioned that she'd gotten her ears pierced again!!! What was my lecture about multiple piercings? You'd better believe that I sent an un-happy e-mail back to her but there wasn't much I could do about it since the deed was done and I was back in Japan. And I guess I had done the same sort of thing once I'd gotten out from under my mother's watchful eyes some 35 years earlier.
This summer Leiya and I had a good time together but we did have an argument when I discovered she'd pierced her ear AGAIN! So now she has 5 holes in her ears! I suppose there could be worse places she might want to pierce but still I'm not happy and I had to break the news to Tetsu with utmost care... Leiya may have sealed her fate with spending the rest of her life in the States because Tetsu doesn't think she will be seriously considered for any job in Japan if she adorns herself further.
Still, I did buy Leiya some earrings for her upcoming birthday. But I only bought two.
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