Life in a Nutshell

A Fortunate Education

The fall of 1992, I was a naive 18 year old heading into my freshman year of university. My parents thought it would be a good idea to acclimate to college life by taking part in the "One Week Early" program.

This program allowed incoming freshmen to settle into dorm life, unpack, maybe gain a friend or two, before classes actually started. It was a godsend for socially awkward and extremely shy me.

I had always enjoyed other cultures, and even in high school had an affinity toward Asian styles, colors and art (Not Manga). I loved Japanese fabrics, historical art and culture, and had learned a little bit about the food and drink. My junior year of high school, I had even applied for and won a scholarship to spend a year abroad with a family in Japan. However I didn't get a full scholarship to go, so I wasn't able to afford the trip.

The next best thing was to offer to be a roommate to an international student at University. Of course I made a request for a Japanese roommate, and had just recently met her during this early week.

My first introduction to her was her feet. She was sound asleep, on her bed on her side of the room, comforter completely covering her except for her bare feet.

Megumi, (Meg for short, from here on out) was as cute as a button, and full of energy and humor. She had a black bobbed haircut that she had permed into a curly mass, pretty golden skin, and sparkly half moon eyes. She was trying her best to make friends with this shy country girl by asking me questions, offering me some questionable Japanese snacks and generally being sweet. As I was finally getting settled, she starts a conversation with me in her heavily accented in English.

"Molly, do you have fortune telling in America?"

"Oh, I'm sure we do, do you mean like palm reading? Tarot cards? That sort of thing?"

"Oh, no... I mean Japanese fortune telling."

"I don't think so. What kind of fortune telling do you mean?"

"Did you know in Japan that your bra type is fortune telling?"

I look a bit shocked. But then quickly regain my composure. I mean, after all different cultures have different norms. But no.. I have never heard about a girls bra being made into some sort of fortune telling. It doesn't surprise me though. Boobs have been judged for millennia, who's to say they can't predict the future too?

"No, I've never heard of that before."

"Oh, good can I give you your fortune?"

"Suuuuuuurrrre?" I look at her a little fearfully. I mean this girl is nice, but should we start trading cup sizes already?

She bounces on her bed a bit, and grins at me. "Okay! I'll start. I'm an A type, and A types are usually sweet, innocent and shy." She giggles.

I look at her chest and nod in agreement. She's most definitely an A type. So her explanation makes sense.

She continues, "I don't know about the accuracy of this kind of fortune telling, but mine is sometimes true." She giggles again. She looks at me and asks, "What about you? What's your type?"

I look down at myself and then look back at her. I blush a bit, and slowly say, "Beeee?"

"Oh, that's my sister! Do you like to party? B types are always the party girls."

"No, that's not me at all." I laugh. "Well what about the rest of the sizes?"

"You mean O?"

"No, I mean, C, D, E and F"

"In Japan, we don't have anything else other than A,B and O"

"You don't?" In some ways, I could definitely see that there were no other sizes than A & B, but then she throws in O, and I'm baffled...like what cup size is an O?? I can't even imagine the torpedos that must be worthy of an O designation.

My eyes widen and I look at her.

"What's an O type? I mean how big is the cup? That must be huge! And what does it mean that you don't have Cs and Ds?" I must have looked shocked, because she looks at me quizzically.

"Bra types in America must be very different. I didn't know that it would be so different. Here look, here's an article in my magazine about the fortune telling."

I look at her Japanese magazine with the text in Japanese, but it also has illustrations and thankfully a few photos. Immediately the lightbulb turns on and I bust out in the biggest guffaw I've ever laughed.

"Meg!!" I laugh out loud. "You mean blood type!!! Not bra type!!"

"I thought you meant bra type..." and I pull an undergarment out of my dresser drawer and dangle it suggestively in front of me!

Her mouth goes into a perfect O, and she starts laughing so hard that we both end up crying and hugging it out. It was our inside joke for the rest of the year. She was a great girl, and is now an accomplished publisher and photographer in Tokyo.

It was definitely one of the best lessons in cultural communication I ever had.