Japan-ish

My apartment is tiny---a 6.5 tatami mat size room with only a shower equipment.
I am such a-taking-a-bath-freak, so this is really a big deal-- not having a bath tub.
Well, I go back to my mother's house to take a bath sometimes, but recently I've started going to a public bath nearby. Yahoos.
Almost 95% people in the public bath are oldies.

That's the place for them to socialize like a cafe, but having a complete real open (inside and outside) relationship with each other. They talk about how to live life without an air-conditioning and sorts.
And here I am again, I am an outsider. (I often feel like "I am not belonging here" in almost any places where I go. )
Yet, observing those sweet ladies is fun.
Sometimes, they argue about opening and closing a window of the bath space for a while.
When I turned on a faucet at full blast to add more cold water, they shouted at me (not in an aggregating tone, but they are just loud) from every corners, like
"Turn off, Virus will stay if you put cold water too much!" or "Turn on, hot water is not good." I was laughing, following both orders back and forth. Aren't there sweet?
The other day, one old lady next to me started talking to me, completely out of blue, like,
"Do you know my age?"
"ahhhhh, I could guess but how could I possibly know your age? " I said in my mind, looking at her big but saggy boobies.
"No. I don't...," before I finished the sentence, she went,
"Well, I am 77. How good I look, right?" Smiling with a victory smile.

"Indeed, your skin is splendorous and shiny! What IS the tip for it?" my honest response.

Seriously, her skin had nothing to do with winkles or open pores that most girls in my age are concerned. (but not your saggy boobies, that part unsaid, of course.)
Then she kept revealing her life, that is, she is still a instructor for classic ballet and has been doing for 40 years, she is tougher than her daughter and sometimes she gives her massage, and her daughter is also a ballet teacher. And she goes straight to the bath after excise and she never gets sick.
I was nodding every 5 seconds while I was washing my hair.

And not only girls talk I get, but there goes boys talk.
When I asked a bath attendant (an old man) to break 50 yen to five 10 yen, he went like,
" Ok, I will take 10 yen for this service, " with a big smile.
Completely oyagi gyagu -- an unfunny joke specifically made by an old guy.
Then here you go, a guy next to the attendant finished up like,
"You can throw water on him! ha ha ha ha!"
oyagi gyagu, again. Hopelessly, fearlessly.....unfunny.
I was speechless and just smiled at them.
Well, I love their friendliness and admire guts to crack unfunny jokes without hesitation! Aren't they sweet too?

I enjoy those local oldies.
No pretentious ness involved here in the real naked world.

So, just gulping a cold tea after the bath, I feel at home and ease.
As much as I miss NYC for diversity and an easy access to all sorts of cultures, I embrace a bit of Japan-ish long forgotten culture here. Small things like that, which can be found at the very corner of Tokyo, is what I missed while in NY.