Clean life -Murakami Asahi-do -Haruki Murakami-

   It is said that as you get older, you start to enjoy going to the barber and taking baths. I can relate to that. It's not that I would say I "enjoy" it yet, but at least it's no longer a pain. It wasn't like that in the past. Just the thought of going to the barber or taking a bath would make my face turn pale with disgust. I would feel frustrated and annoyed sitting in the barber's chair for nearly an hour while someone played with my hair. Maybe it was because I've always been impatient and couldn't stand sitting still for a long time with all that energy overflowing within me. Nonetheless, when I became a high school student and started dating a girlfriend, I felt the need to maintain a certain level of cleanliness, so I forced myself to regularly take baths and visit the barber. It was a good thing to do. However, as soon as I entered college and came to Tokyo, I reverted back to my dirty lifestyle. The reason was that my college life coincided directly with the peak of student activism and the hippie movement.

  You see, back then, being unclean was like a symbol of status, so nobody went to the barber, didn't shave, didn't take baths, and didn't change clothes. It was all a mess. It was common to find men who hadn't washed their hair in a month. I spent a few years living like that, got married, and then clean days returned. I cut my hair short, shaved my beard, and bought a few suits. At first, it was out of obligation, then it became a habit, and recently, I willingly take baths and visit the barber. I wash my hair every day and even wear cologne. I think it's quite something. I spend two hours each way, twice a month, going to a barber in Sendagaya. I even iron my shirts myself. People around me say I'm "relatively clean." No one knows about the past. Life is a strange thing, isn't it?