Graduated from Waseda Institute of Technology
Engineer in a large enterprise
Because of a bowl of ramen
In a closed "systems society"
Find your true self
That's the protagonist we have today
Seeing this old gentleman, do you think it is familiar? Seeing the following photos, will everyone drop their jaws?
Yes, you read that right, this old man in sailor's suit is the old gentleman. It's called Hideaki Kobayashi.
Hideaki Kobayashi, born in 1962, is now 60 years old. When he was a child, Hideaki Kobayashi was unremarkable, but every time he saw cute clothes, he would stop for a long time. After going to school, the "naughty" Kobayashi was a bit excessive, in order to show his courage, he made a bet with other classmates to lift the girl's skirt, and the result was naturally that he won. However, Kobayashi, who was immersed in the joy of victory, was immediately caught by the teacher. To punish him, the teacher ordered him to change into a short pink skirt and stand at the morning meeting. For ordinary people, wearing women's clothing to show in public, insisting can be said to be a great shame. But instead of feeling ashamed, Kobayashi felt a kind of praise.
After experiencing this incident, Hideaki Kobayashi did not dare to be naughty anymore and continued his ordinary student life. Due to his excellent academic performance, he was admitted to the mathematics class of waseda University Polytechnic College. You know, Waseda is one of the highest-ranked private universities in Japan, which means that Kobayashi is not only smart, but also a very dedicated student. After graduating with a master's degree, Kobayashi naturally entered a large Japanese company and became an engineer.
After work, Kobayashi, like most people, lives the life of an ordinary office worker. Until one day, there was a ramen restaurant in Yokohama that did an event, and the content of the activity was very simple, that is, "people over 30 years old, if they come to the shop wearing sailor clothes, can get a bowl of free ramen noodles."
Kobayashi's friend found out and jokingly persuaded him to go. At that time, Kobayashi thought to himself, "Then go, the skirt itself is not worn, if others ask, tell them about free ramen." Despite this in mind, Kobayashi did a night of thought work and assumed many "contingency plans", such as causing a riot, so run away; if you are blamed or questioned, then tell the truth.
Regardless of the outcome, Kobayashi still followed the bet early in the morning and put on women's clothes and went to the ramen shop. As he walked, he desperately tried to convince himself. As a result, he did not expect that when he entered the station and passed the ticket gate, the staff of the station did not say anything, and there was no onlookers and any chaos in the tram. Although he was nervous about wearing a sailor suit for the first time, he found that no one around him was paying attention to him, and Kobayashi slowly relaxed himself. Just like that, he enjoyed a free bowl of ramen.
Back home, Hideaki Kobayashi couldn't help but sigh that the city's tolerance was too strong. At night, Kobayashi, who was lying in bed, fell into deep thought. Men dressed in feminine clothing are considered "perverts" by most people. But why is it "perverted"? Although I have liked cute clothes since I was a child, I have not hurt anyone, is there a mistake in this? Is it wrong to like something that people don't like? Modern society has undoubtedly become a huge "system", and all people living in it must wear away the "self" and "personality" to adapt to and obey the life of the system society. Why do I have to be obedient?
After a night of thinking, Hideaki Kobayashi felt that he was born again. He is to be a man who is no longer obedient.
Since the trip to the ramen shop, in addition to weekdays, Hideaki Kobayashi will change into her favorite girl's uniform and go out. Coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, airports... He tried all kinds of places. You know, in a "harsh" society like Japan, how courageous is it to dare to maintain your individuality? But it is also this courage to go beyond the "acquiescence rules" that has made Kobayashi gain great popularity.
Most of the time, people around him will talk to him and praise him as "very interesting" and "so cute". Of course, Kobayashi also understands that there will definitely be people who are disgusted with their "strange costumes", but they do not have any reaction on the surface. Slowly, Kobayashi's spirit of daring to insist on himself coupled with his amiable smile was recognized by many people, and he got the title of "Sailor Suit Grandpa" or "JK Grandpa" (JK = female high school student), and later even appeared the legend that "if you meet The Sailor Suit Grandpa, you can get happiness".
After becoming famous, Kobayashi was asked to take a group photo hundreds of times every time he went out, and according to himself, every time he went to Takeshita-dori in Harajuku, there would be an endless stream of people coming around to ask for a group photo, which caused him to spend three or four hours each time he crossed the Takeshita Pass. How popular is that?! There are simply more fans than the stars.
On a business trip to France, Kobayashi began to wear women's clothes from the beginning, and waited until Narita Airport was checked. The security personnel looked at the old man in women's clothes, and the expression of "must not let this guy go out" immediately appeared on his face, and then began to conduct a full-body examination like "looking for stubble", and finally naturally passed smoothly. Some people have asked, why can't you choose ordinary dress? Kobayashi thinks it wouldn't be fun if that were the case.
Of course, there are also opponents. Someone has publicly questioned Kobayashi in women's clothing. As a result, it has also caused a scolding war on the Internet. But Hideaki Kobayashi did not show righteous indignation, but responded very peacefully: "I am neither perverted nor do I want to become a woman, the reason why I wear a sailor suit is that on the one hand, I really like cute clothes, on the other hand, I just hope to be free to choose my own dress." ”
Some people also think that Kobayashi is just putting on a show, and when his heat is not there, he will naturally give up women's clothing. But After hearing it, Kobayashi Hideaki laughed, he thought that he was just an ordinary uniformed old man, not as unique as a real star, he could not sing or dance, so he should not have become a topic figure.
Because Hideaki Kobayashi has no lofty goals and extravagant expectations, even if everyone is tired of making costumes, it has nothing to do with him, so women's clothing travel is already a part of his daily life.
So when some people question Kobayashi's deliberate dressing up in order to be famous
Hideaki Kobayashi would drop a sentence indifferently
"Very nice place to stay in kyoto"
As we all know, Japanese society attaches importance to harmony and stability, and the people who are bullied in schools are not "poor students" who do not study well, but excellent students who perform well. Therefore, everyone has learned to follow the principle of "centering on the collective, weakening the self", and it is simply impossible to live freely according to their own ideas. Hideaki Kobayashi bravely took a "anti-traditional" step to awaken young people from a state of repression, so he rarely resented it, but was supported by the people.
Waseda Private School, a well-known university examination tuition school in Japan, admired Hideaki Kobayashi's unique attitude towards life, so he invited him to give a lecture to high school students as a lecturer in a special open class.
Japan's public universities have always been "low-key", and the ideology of "tree style" has been deeply rooted, so inviting "sailor clothes grandpa" to participate in the publicity of education can be said to be a subversive step.
On July 13, 2014, Hideaki Kobayashi came to Waseda Private School to give a lecture as a lecturer in an open class.
During the lecture, Kobayashi expressed his own opinion: modern society is a huge "system", and all people living in it have to remove their "personality" and become "consumables". Among these people who have become consumables, there are two kinds, "over-adaptation" and "non-adaptation".
"Over-adaptation" refers to people who can handle everything in detail, who have a cautious way of thinking and can use this as a foothold, but this kind of person looks down on those who live very loosely or who often make mistakes, so they will elevate themselves relatively by drawing a line with these people.
The so-called "adaptation" refers to people who do not rely on rational basis and live purely on sensibility, although such people will constantly think about why they have become the "unsuitable" party, but often can not find the answer.
And the "sailor suit grandpa" who put forward this view, he classified himself as the "unsuitable" side.
In fact, no matter what kind of people, everyone has a sense of isolation from living in a "systematic society". In such a society, the appearance of people like Kobayashi will make everyone feel "really interesting.". Because I don't want to work harder anymore, I hope to pin such a mood on others.
It can be seen that Hideaki Kobayashi is not simply a grandfather who walks around wearing a sailor suit, in this process, he slowly found the meaning of wearing a sailor suit, while satisfying his "love" for the sailor suit, he also wants to become a discordant sound in the current closed "system" society, bringing a little happiness and happiness to everyone's boring daily life.
In class, a female student asked Kobayashi how she could be her true self, and Kobayashi's answer was:
If something is what you want to do
Then do it
That's the key to happiness.