We went back to the doctor on Friday night, and he said that there was definitely something there and a heartbeat could be heard. However, he wants us to go back again next Friday, just to be sure. I wonder at what point he’s going to be sure? Perhaps when Rie’s crowning on the delivery table. Still, it is a very nice clinic, and I’ve already gotten to know some of the other patients’ faces. For example, last Friday evening when we were leaving, there were two women sitting on one of the sofas. They looked very young, I’d say around twenty. Well, when we went back this week, They were both there again. Rie went in to do her blood pressure and whatever else it is that takes her so long to do. I sat on the sofa behind the two girls and started reading my book.

Now, these girls aren’t your average Japanese women. They look and act like they’re used to a wild life. One of them is heavyset and is clearly following the lifestyle of a kogyaru. Kogyaru are girls who follow a mid-1990’s trend of excessive tanning, extreme make-up and outrageous fashion. The other one is also heavyset (now that I think about it, all the women at this place are fairly heavyset…duh!) but is a little more reserved in her appearance. They both notice me sitting there and start whispering to each other and looking around at me. This is the typical reaction that I have gotten for the last ten years here in Japan. To begin, foreigners are stared at simply for being foreigners. It takes awhile to get used to, but that’s just the way it is. Second, I am 193 cm tall (6′4″), I literally stand head, shoulders and in a large number of cases, chest over much of the population. A third reason here might be that, in Japan, husbands never go to the OB/GYN with their wives, and so I have, for the last two weeks at least, been the only guy there in a room full of women.

Anyway, as I sit reading, the nurse calls out a name in Japanese. Both the girls stand, and in a rapid re-telling of the incident, the heavier girl’s sweatpants drop down to her knees, revealing her covert agenda of deciding not to have worn underwear on this particular day. Of course, her first reaction is not to bend down and pick them up, or even look over at her friend all embarrassed-like and say something like, “I can’t believe that just happened!” No, her first reaction is to look back at the big foreigner who goes where no man dares to go to see if he’s looking.

Here’s my first question: When you’re sitting in any kind of waiting room, and they call the name of someone sitting in your vicinity, do you not look up at them? Whether out of mild curiosity or just plain jealousy, don’t you at least give them a slight glance? Think about it. I’m fairly sure your answer will be a resounding “Yes. Yes I do look at them”. Well, I can safely tell you that you are not alone because when she looked at me our eyes locked as if she were a hypnotist in some cheesy Vegas nightclub, and I was some poor fool up on the stage getting ready to bark like a dog.

My second question is more of an introspective one that I asked myself at that very moment which, when boiled down to its core essence, went something along the lines of, “So when you go tanning, do you just get into the tanning bed totally naked, or do you use some kind of spray for that part of your body?”

Thankfully, she was unabashed by the incident, hiked up her pants and entered the doctor’s room with her friend. Situation…resolved. Rie came back, but before I could tell her what had happened, we too were called into the doctor’s room. It wasn’t until we were walking home that I got the chance to tell her the story. As it turns out (according to Rie), “Ms. Flash of the Pants” isn’t even pregnant. She just goes there with her friend (who is pregnant, I imagine) and offers support. I thought it was so sweet for her to that. Not many people would take time out of their schedule to go to a doctor’s office with their friend, where there is an average wait of about an hour, and sit there with him/her. My perception of her had definitely changed.

I then told Rie that I wanted to change our appointments to Saturday mornings.