Bar Code

A colleague once asked me what people call “bar code” in America. “Bar code,” I said. Turned out she was not asking about the bar codes on products for scanning, but “bar code” on people’s head.

I had a prime vantage point of one on the train to work this morning. The guy seated in front me had a shiny bald head. Over his pate, he had meticulously combed over from one side a thin layer of hair, gelled and separated into thin strands. All the strands were perfectly parallel with uneven spaces in between: bar code! And you thought the Japanese have no sense of humor.