Surprisingly, nobody in the office seems to have noticed the fact that I am naked. It shouldn't be surprising that I'm naked. In the forest au naturel is pretty much the "in look" except in the rare case of those particularly conservative animals who hide beneath a coat of fur, or stags with their penchant for accessorizing with antlers. "Free as a bird" is quite literally the fashion de mode. It is decidedly not the case in human society. While there doesn't seem to be any absolute dress code in our office, everybody dresses in typical office wear. Now in the hotter summer months, neckties have disappeared and sleeves have slowly shrunk up towards the wearer's shoulder. As the seasons change, so do the attendant fashions.
Though a city dweller now, I retain my nakedness. Actually, nobody seems to have even noticed. I guess somehow it's not the same thing. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous. I wish I had the opportunity to wear clothes more often. It looks like great fun. I got to thinking about it this past Friday as I wandered through Shibuya. Out of the ordinary, in this Japanese cityscape were the numbers of people wearing Yukata and Jinbei on their way to a fireworks display. But it really shouldn't be striking. It should be common, but it's really not. These two traditional outfits only really make their appearances in the summer when the night sky is filled with fireworks or the air carries the beating sound of a festival's drums.
Day to day, this is a city of jeans, a city of polyester tights and cotton pants. If I were a creature that dressed, generally speaking, I think I'd wear this wonderful clothing everyday. I'd not relegate it to the sad corner of the closet for those special once a year days. Rather, I'd be decked out in my flowing Yukata each and everyday of summer. But then my dry cleaning bill would be substantially larger. Maybe being a woodland creature has its advantages. I mean, how many squirrels have you seen at your local cleaners?
