Getting Measured
This upcoming Saturday, I will be traveling back the States for the first time in about 1.5 years. For two weeks I’ll be back in Tennessee for visiting family and friends but even more importantly, my brother’s wedding.
In the lead up to this week there has been a lot of planning going on over there and at some point it was asked of me to send my measurments so tuxedo rental reservations could be finalized. It seemed like a simple enough request for this modern nation I’m now living in to handle, sure I’ll would have to convert centimeters to inches, but everything else should be just as easy as back home. But once again I was handed the “au contrere, mon frère” from Japan, or maybe more specifically Aomori.
First I tried going to the local shopping center during my lunch break. How long could measurements take after all? The one catch is there are no bridal / tuxedo shops in the local shopping center so I had to make do with just the regular suit sales people. I thought surely they would have some kind of knowledge of tuxedos are measured even if they didn’t sell them. But low and behold it was just asking to be measured that threw them for a loop! I don’t know how many times I had to tell them that I needed my measurements in centimeters. First I got the run around about how Japanese suits have a special measuring system based on statistics and such. Then came the, “oh but America uses inches!” then finally after explaining what seemed like the whole plan for this wedding, they decided what I really wanted was measurements written down in centimeters…Thank you lord. But then it became apparent the guy holding the measuring tape didn’t know what needed to be measured when it came to tuxedos even though I motioned to my arm-length and neck several times. In the end I came out of there with suit measurements.
That visit was written off as a mistake due to the person just not being experienced with tuxedos. So naturally I had to seek out a bridal shop. About a week past before I was able to make it down to Hachinohe. Walking in and seeing all the tuxedos and wedding dresses gave me great hope. When I started talking to the two ladies I started getting some of the same run around the other guy gave me. However, these ladies seemed to be understanding what I was wanting a lot sooner than other dude even though it wasn’t on their list of standard services, so I didn’t run out early.
They were getting out their measuring tapes and I was about to assume the “getting measured” pose when all of the sudden they grabbed a set of tux coat and pants and told me to try them on. I didn’t exactly know how this was going to help their measurement of me, but I humored it. After they adjusted the trousers to a length they were happy with, they had me take them off and hand them out before I got back into my normal clothes.
When I came out, there they were with the coat and trousers laid out on a table using their tapes to measure them. Measuring the garments instead of the human being standing right there, that is modern age advancement. I could only watch with a polite smile as they did they did explanations of the pictures they were drawing for my measuremens in condescending style. Yet again, one can only think “WTF” and drive off frustrated.
Lucky for me I’m arriving early and can be measured in the States, because I definitely am not trusting the results of the Aomori measuring system.