tiaramerchgirl | Cornrows

Guess who now has cornrows in her hair!

We were at the Toyota World Expo two days ago - BUSY! There were pavillions from almost every country on the planet (and then some) and almost every person in Japan was there. We were practically the only foreigners, which was rather odd considering how internationally known this event is.

The Malaysian and Bangladesh pavillions were especially happy to see me, just because I am from that country and speak the language. I even got quite a bunch of swag from each pavillion - flags pins, brochures, so on. Nanu was especially excited with the Nepali pavillion since it recreated one of the major temples there. People there were quite lovely.

Almost all the best pavillions had 2 hour waiting lines (I'm not kidding) though we did get VIP access to the Canada pavillion. It was BEAUTIFUL! They had some form of musical multimedia presentation on cloth screens and it was so inspiring. I want to produce a show like that, it was gorgeous.

Shish kebab in the Bangladesh pavillion tastes better than kebab in Bangladesh.

The Cote d'Ivore pavillion had cornrows going on for 3000 yen; I've waited two years for my hair to be braided finely so this was my chance. There was a waiting list; I just managed to sneak in at the last minute. I had old women come up to me while my hair was being braided...they probably thought I was an African model...

Oh what a reaction I had to the cornrows! Everyone's heads turned; some even gasped. All agreed that it was good. It took a while for me to get used to it (I couldn't recognize myself in the mirror!) but I'm liking it.

We were at the Toyota plant yesterday; creepy as it all gets out. It seemed so soulless...even the music they played when there is a problem was creepy. "Ding ding ding...hi! we regret to inform you that a car has broken down. Let's party!" It was...strange.

What was cool was their exhibition - at one point they had a screen of social contributions, and right in the middle was Up With People. Nina's cast too; she recognized everyone in there. (How she did that I wouldn't know, since the faces had no detail...)

Celebration rehearsals were interesting, though it seemed everyone was stressed out over something, or was about to be. We managed to pull together though, and we had a gerat show. A great opening to Japan.