＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. Increase in gray hair among young people
Compared to us “baby boomers”, there seems to be more gray hair in younger people. This may have something to do with “disordered eating habits,” “stress,” and “hormonal imbalances. Because of this, many people in their 40s and 50s are dying their hair gray.
In a Diamond Online survey of men in their 40s on anti-aging in their 40s, 82% of respondents answered that they have gray hair.
Among them, 54% were concerned about gray hair and 33% were dyeing their hair gray. As expected, more young people with gray hair are concerned about it.
Come to think of it, TV commercials advertise “gray hair dyes” by Momoko Kikuchi (Bigen) and Satoko Koizumi (Cleodite), who are younger than we are. Satoko Koizumi is now a 37-year-old fashion model.
2. Celebrities who don’t dye their gray hair
By the way, I feel like there are more and more celebrities who don’t dye their gray hair these days.
Sato Kondo, 50, a freelance announcer and narrator, said, “Gray hair is a liberation for women. The courage not to dye your hair changes the way you live,” and ”Perhaps because the stereotype that gray hair is a symbol of old age or that it is ugly and should be hidden is too strong, when I changed my hair to gray this past May, only Mr. Shinobu Sakagami praised me, but everyone else seemed unable to find words to say.
Sato Kondo started dyeing her hair in her late 20s, but in her late 30s, the part in her hair that turned white quickly became a burden, and she was anxious about having to go to the beauty salon again. She also suffered from skin problems that caused her face to swell up because the dye did not suit her.
In a survey conducted by Shufu no Tomosha from February to March this year (targeting women aged 30 to 80), the percentage of people who answered that they “think gray hair on women is nice and beautiful” was 40.8%, a sharp increase from the survey conducted a year and a half ago (8.5%).
I think this is a reflection of the fact that “more people are choosing not to dye their gray hair” and “more people are accepting this favorably.”
Actress Mitsuko Kusabue (85 years old) recently appeared on the interview program “Sawako no Asa” and I was amazed by her “beautiful silver hair” and “youthfulness”. She is a former member of the “Shochiku Revue Company (SKD)” and has been doing ballet since she was young, so she exercises every day and keeps her body flexible. Her way of speaking was also elegant and very charming.
Actor Takanori Jinnai (60 years old) was suddenly revealed with a gorgeous white head of hair in the role of deputy head of surgery in the 2017 drama “Doctor X,” and many people were surprised. He says that his hair started going gray when he was young, and that he had been dyeing it until now.
Singer-songwriter Koji Kikkawa also has gray hair and gives off a dandy vibe in recent TV commercials.
3. Ageing gracefully without going against nature
Doesn’t not dyeing gray hair mean “living in harmony with nature” and “aging gracefully”?
Changing the subject, there seems to be an anti-aging procedure to remove wrinkles from the face (by cutting and pulling parts of the facial skin), but to me, the taut, “completely wrinkle-free” faces of actresses in their 70s and 80s look “unnatural” and “painful.”
These days, I think it’s important to not only “live beautifully” but also to “age beautifully.”
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