A New Standard of Dress

When I "went out" in the States, I wore nice jeans, a "cute" top, and tennis shoes for my feet's comfort sake. If I was up for the challenge, I wore dressy shoes and hoped I wouldn't get blisters from all the walking during shopping.

In Japan, this is not good enough.

This past weekend, I went to Tokyo to visit the Sasahiras again and my Okaasan took me to some really upscale department stores. Blue ribbed sweater, light tan khakis, and tennis shoes looks good, right? WRONG. I never felt so out of place. And then I was carrying around my navy fleece pullover. Who wears a pull-over in Japan? It looks like it's only me. I had assumed that since it was Saturday, the universal day-off, that people would dress more relaxed. I think their idea of more relaxed is leaving the suit jacket in the car, because I was getting looks saying "Where did you come from? Your frump drawer?" No. My frumpy clothes are sweatpants and a t-shirt. If I were actually in them I might have been barred from entering the complex at all!

So Sunday, we went out to a second department store just for window shopping and lunch. I dressed in black pants, a red ribbed turtleneck sweater (called polo-sweaters here), and my black ballet flats. I didn't get any snarling looks so I think I passed the second time around. However, getting dressed up EVERY TIME just to enjoy a lazy afternoon shopping doesn't make the outing as much fun.

Maybe for those of you who come from cities bigger than Little Rock (and there are A LOT of them), this may seem normal to you. For me, I am longing for the next day I can wear my jeans. I think they are gathering dust in my drawer...