A Bit of Wednesday Workshop

Question: Did your family ever fight over who would use the TV or bathtub first?

Response:

When I think back to my childhood, I don’t really remember any fights in my family over that. As the head of the household, father always went first., then my mother, and after them, us kids. When I was younger, I think my parents probably took us to the bath first.

Generally speaking, in most families back then, the father had the first turn. It was just the norm in that era—the father held the top position at home. That’s how it was.

Question: What’s the most outdated commercial or TV show you can still remember clearly?
Response:

When it comes to memorable TV commercials, I immediately think of a miso advertisement. You know which one I’m talking about?

Yeah, it’s the Marukome Miso commercial. It was really famous back in the Showa era.

Besides the content itself, what stood out the most was the "hero" of the commercial—a little boy with a shaved head, or as we say in Japanese, bouzu atama (skinhead). That image was so striking and really made the commercial effective in promoting Marukome Miso.

It left such an impact—everyone remembered the name because of that ad. And to top it off, the jingle was super catchy.

Question: Did you ever try to copy a Showa-era fashion trend that now makes you cringe?
Response:

Actually, yes—I once got a perm! I was over 25 at the time and just wanted a change.

I thought changing my hairstyle would lift my mood, so I went to the barbershop and got a perm.

But when I looked at myself in the mirror afterward, I was shocked—it didn’t look anything like I had imagined.

A few days later, I went back to the barber and had it all cut off to get rid of the perm.