Bobby!!!!

Okay, this is beginning to bother me quite a bit. To students at my high school, I am no longer known as Herman. I'm known as Bobby Ologun. Every time I go to school and teach, I get at least one "Oh - Bobby!!!" from a student, whether its in class or in the hallway. You know what - it's not even limited to my school any more. While I was walking home from the train station the other day, these three high school-age punks on a bicycle yelled "Bobby!!!" in my ear as they were riding by. (I still can't figure out how three high school boys fit on a bicycle - another one of the mysteries of Japan.)

For those of you who don't know, Bobby Ologun is a K-1 fighter from Nigeria turned Japan television celebrity. Fame-wise, he hit the big time in 2005 and was all over TV, so most Japanese know who he is. That was bad news for me, at least as far as my work at high school goes.

Now, usually this stuff doesn't bother me. I take insults better than most people. In middle school I was called Steve Urkel. My first year of college, old white ladies said I looked like Tiger Woods. Heck, even last year, when I started work at high school, the kids called me Kevin Lyttle. I took all that in stride. But for some reason, this whole Bobby Ologun thing has really got under my skin.


First of all, I look nothing like Bobby Ologun, besides the fact that we both have dark skin. I can see the comparisons with Tiger Woods. I can even see Urkel. But I don't see this at all.


But I can be lenient on that. Maybe the real reason is because I don't like the guy at all.

If you've seen the guy, the way he acts in public is an embarrassment to black people everywhere, whether African or African-American. He's a straight up goofball, who acts stupid all the time, speaking botched Japanese (my GF says it's obviously on purpose - apparently Ologun has pretty good Japanese skills). It's good entertainment for some Japanese, but can you imagine the stereotypes that are forming in the minds of a people that hardly interact with blacks? Goofball. Stupid. Can't speak Japanese.

Of course, I shouldn't get too hot under the collar about dissing by high school punks that'll be pumping my gas someday. Nobody other than these students have called me Bobby. So I'm not trying to say that Japan is racist toward blacks or anything like that (Little Black Samba situation aside). But I'd be lying if I said the whole Bobby thing hasn't bothered me at all.

Game, Set, Match

Over the winter break, my hair had grown kind of too long. I guess with that, plus the fact that I've started wearing glasses regularly again after years of contacts, I looked like a very famous American athlete during my time in the U.S.

As I was going through one of the security checkpoints at Orlando International Airport in January, one of the guards said, "Hey man, I gotta tell you... You look like Arthur Ashe."

Then, on the plane itself, one of the flight attendants said, "Would you like beef or... hey, did anybody ever tell you that you look like a young Arthur Ashe?"

Well, as a matter of fact, yes, somebody has told me that. That's what I wanted to say, but I refrained. Anyway, it didn't take me too long to cut my hair once I got back to Japan. Not that it was all that bad to be called Arthur Ashe. Beats being called Bobby Ologun any day (by the way, that's a subject for a future post).