Blue Hair: The Antiquer's Paradise

Ever since we arrived in Japan, the legend of "Blue Hair" has quietly popped up on Facebook, and details vanished as soon as they appeared. Trying to get details on who or what "Blue Hair" even is has been a state secret-run by the fellow dependents on base. People would ask "Where can I get *insert antique here*?" All responses would read "Blue Hair." The questioner would ask "What is that?" Followed by complete silence. So it shouldn't have been any surprise when I asked "Is there a store that sells antique Japanese tea boxes?" and it was followed by "Blue Hair!" then silence. Drats. Now if you're wondering about what makes Japanese tea boxes so cool, see picture below:

Source:
 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/385409680591837007/

They are crates that were used to ship tea. They're wood, tin-lined, big, and will be used in one of my future projects. So I set off on a journey to find out who, what, and where was the elusive "Blue Hair" and where he kept this horde of tea boxes. Google returned nothing. Facebook questions were followed by silence. Forget about Yelp! This strangely started to feel like a game of "who is Keyser Soze?"  from the movie Unusual Suspects. My investigation was delayed by the beginning of the half-semester in college, but alas, during the weekend I would find this "Blue Hair." Finally, my Saturday sleuth skills paid off. I infiltrated the dependent mafia on a private Facebook page and found the coordinates!

Okay, so admittedly this isn't nearly as dramatic as I made it sound. Americans here nickname EVERYTHING. We can't pronounce it, so Americans before us gave it a funny name, it caught on, and people who show up later are racking their brains trying to google a restaurant named "Cat Bawlz" that doesn't technically exist. I found a private base thrift store page, was added, did a search within the page, and found the coordinates to the shop buried way down in the comments section of a year-old post. Victory! Then was able to find the actual name of the shop on Google and the hours. Immediately I took screenshots and sent them to my husband who agreed to go on this adventure with me. I believe this was done half out of trying to make me happy, and the other half trying to get me to shut up about antique tea boxes. Either way, we woke up late on Saturday (Zac worked until 5 am that morning), grabbed some coffees and yen, and journeyed the thirty minutes away. This was the day that I would finally meet this "Blue Hair" legend. 

Pulling up to the shop, there was a phone number posted that said to call if you wanted in the antique shop. It should be noted that Japanese businesses work a little differently than American businesses, so you are often met with limited hours and quirky business models. But hey, it works! So I call the number and tell the mysterious Blue Hair that I am at his antique shop. He asks if I am calling from the base to which I reply, "No, I'm here now," and he says he will let me in in a minute. Quickly after, I see a nice Japanese man walking up the sidewalk and waving. I think to myself, "Is that him? Is this Keyser Soze?" It was! He flagged me back to his parking lot and, much to my amazement, his ENTIRE WAREHOUSE.

Y'all. THIS IS MY MOMENT!

He immediately asks if I want tea boxes and tells me that the Americans always want tea boxes. Got me there, Soze. I didn't grab any pictures of all of the boxes as it was very dark in that section of the store. If you want to imagine what that part of the store looked like, close your eyes and stare at the back of your eyelids. It looked just like that. We were getting closer to his posted closing time, so I was under the assumption we were getting the tea boxes and hitting the road. But the Blue Hair man told us to look around, and I didn't hesitate to take him up on that offer.

We wandered around this section of the warehouse and found baskets, tons of sake bottles and glasses, boxes of antique tea sets, sea floats, ships, papers, etc. I was in Antiquer's Paradise. 

These blue orbs are sea floats. Sea floats are a big deal with the Americans as you see them on people's patios or in their yards. They head down to the beaches to find washed-up sea floats in the dead of winter. These people and their addiction to sea floats are not to be messed with. I, on the other hand, do not enjoy the prospects of wearing a parka on the beach and would much rather purchase one from the Blue Hair man and sit in my heated apartment. However, I have the utmost respect for these people's dedication to the sea float hunt.

One of the big parts of Japanese culture is giving small gifts. As we were exploring this section of the warehouse, he told us about how it used to be a sake factory and gave us these beautiful sake glasses from the factory as a gift. How many times have you gone to a store and the store owner gives you a gift?! 

Next, we wandered over to the other section. It took my breath away. Words can't describe, so I'll just show you pictures.

I was stunned as I have, one, never been to a Japanese antique shop, and, two, have never been to an antique shop this beautiful in my twenty-seven years. Blue Hair man could not have been nicer, prices were decent, and his inventory was amazing. Architectural pieces, cultural pieces, boxes, art, plates, cups, canisters, teapots, furniture, lighting, cameras, anything and everything. I finally understood the hype surrounding Blue Hair.

We spent about an hour in the store, and my husband was very excited to show me all the cool and funny stuff he found. We took our purchases to Blue Hair's office which consisted of two tea boxes, a teapot, and a sake bottle. I wanted to purchase everything, but small apartments and large antique hauls can eventually result in an episode of "Hoarders," so I try to aim for small purchases. As we were walking out the door, he ran after us and gave us another gift, a tray for sake and tea drinking. Think he couldn't be nicer? It gets better.

Apparently, this warehouse (full of all things joy and happiness) is open on an appointments-basis, and you are supposed to call when leaving the base to give him thirty minutes to get to the store. We knew none of this. So not only did we show up unannounced, he gave us gifts and couldn't have been more accommodating. We felt so bad, but finally getting those tea boxes felt so good. 

So here's my haul for the day:

Two tea boxes (soon to be nightstands)

70 year old cast iron teapot

Sake bottle from the factory

This was my first trip to a Japanese antique store but certainly won't be my last!