The Artist Formerly Known As Hajime

I knew as soon as I saw this kid he was going to be one of my favorite students. He was standing in front of the boy's bathroom mirror, fixing his Japanese-style bouffant hair-do. From far away I wondered why he had the face of a geisha, and it was only until I got closer that I realized he was wearing make up, which gave his face an ivory sheen, and his lips this pale pinkish hue--an odd combination for a teenage boy in my opinion.

On the first day of school while being shown around the building by my supervisor, the guys, as is our nature, wanted to play it cool by shaking hands and exchanging high five's. The girls however would run into the classrooms screaming as if I was the hearthrob frontman of a popular teenage boy band group, and I just happened to be visiting their school after some girl won a radio contest. Hajime was assoiciated with the latter half. I almost lost myself when he leaned his head out of one of the classrooms and said with more flamboyance I'd ever imagined Japanese people were capable of, "Hellooooo...", while the o's trailed off with a steadily increasing inflection that ended up at a high-pitched whimper.

In the past few weeks I've seen him around the halls chatting it up with his army of girl friends. One day I told him of his uncanny resemblence to one of my favorite entertainers of all time. I brought a picture of said entertainer I thought Hajime would appreciate, and in return he gave me this pose which I thought was priceless. I was glad I had my camera with me to capture this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Before I snapped the photo he screamed, "Totte! (Take it [the picture]!)," and his voice rose once more into that strange abyss of femininity most heterosexual guys are either unfamiliar with, or irrationally afraid of.


I consider myself successful if those of you reading this enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed being able to experience it.