Screw the fountain of youth...

...Just shave your beard!

So Friday was Halloween. Me and a group of my friends here in Kyoto got together at a local Irish pub called McLoughlin's. They were having a huge costume party, or so the signs said.

So I get all excited about getting into a costume and scaring the bajebus out of Japanese people on the train and in town. I decide to go as Wolverine from the X-men movies and comics. I have a brown jacket that was pretty spot on and i decided to make the ultimate sacrifice for a halloween costume, I altered my beard. If you have never seen Huge Jackman as Wolverine, do a quick google image search. He has huge mutton chops that come all the way down to the corners of his mouth. so i shaved off my goatee area and just left two unconnected beard tentacles. It looked fantastic. I also made some claws out of wooden rulers, aluminum foil, and a pair of cheap gloves. The costume looked great, and i didnt get too many odd looks, i suppose thats because i have seen weirder fashion on normal afternoons in Japan.

So my friends were dressed up as a Jewish Russian immigrant, 2 chickens with helmets, the guy from the Nightmare before Christmas, and a man in a shower. The night started off pretty slow because when we got there, no one else was dressed up. I was a bit concerned when i noticed that the bar was full of Japanese people only there to share conversation and laugh at stupid foreigners in costumes. After I had enough liquid courage to begin talking to the natives, i found myself in a trap of 3 hungry Japanese cougars. I skillfully navigated my way out of that frightening pungi stick filled booby-trap and made my way to the bar to chat with the bartender when i was accosted by a pair of more attractive and more interesting Japanese girls with fantastic English. Eventually, more foreigners came. there was a Johnny Depp, a Tengu demon, lots of girls with kitty-cat ears. The night began to wind down for most of my friends, but not for showerman and myself. we escorted a few Japanese of the female persuasion to another bar. we eventually lost track of time and missed our trains home. Such is the sacrifice i make for good conversation and cultural exchange.

The next day i proceeded to shave the rest of my beard off except for my extraordinarily long sideburns, mostly to spite the old sideburns law at Brophy. I took a picture of myself and realized that i look about 5 years younger. I do prefer the beard, much more mysterious and individualistic. very few people have decent beards out here. As i have always said, "in the land of the patchy stubble, the man with the luscious beard is king."