My "Theory of the Beautiful Boy"

Merry Christmas!

As the year draws to a close, hearing Jingle Bells in the streets makes me feel gloomy and lonely. "Another year is ending already," "I didn't accomplish anything again."

Come to think of it, back in my student days, on Christmas Eve, all the guys without "girlfriends" would gather at a yakitori place in Kichijoji. We'd guzzle down hot sake, envying and resenting our classmates who were probably enjoying fancy French or Italian dinners. It was a lot of fun, but maybe that's when I started disliking Christmas.

But enough digressing.

In my case, there were just over 200 of us who joined Dentsu Inc. in the same year. Many are still at the company, but after 20 years, people's paths diverged—some became Diet members, company presidents, musicians, and so on. One of those who changed paths is photographer Shoko Ogushi.

Ogushi's consistent theme is "infiltrating the ultimate male society, colored by order, uniforms, hierarchy, rules, and absurdity, pursuing the beauty and mystery of men from a female perspective."

When she quit her job to study photography at a London university, she chose Eton College, the prestigious public school attended by Prince William, as her subject. At the time, though, I didn't really understand what she wanted to do (she must have told me, but...). I just thought, "That's a wonderfully British subject."

But then came the German military, followed by the Colombian army's anti-drug task force. Hearing she was venturing alone into such dangerous places to take photos, I started to feel confused. It wasn't until I heard her repeatedly exclaiming "beautiful, beautiful" while photographing modern pentathlon athletes—an Olympic sport—that it finally clicked: "Ah, so she really just wants to photograph beautiful young men." She has since relocated her base to her hometown of Saga, Japan, and is now traveling to places like the Shaolin Temple on Mount Song in China.

This very Ogushi recently published a photo book titled 'The Theory of Beautiful Boys: Men Behind the Scenes'. To celebrate its release, she held a photo exhibition at Ginza Vanilla Gallery.

Walking through the gallery filled with photos—a boy in a flower-adorned hat amidst the deep green of the Thames, a German youth whose features shifted slightly around conscription age, athletes with animal-like muscles—I couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Ha ha ha!"

Essentially, this "Theory of Beautiful Boys" pretends to be objective, but it's purely a parade of Mr. Ogushi's subjective opinions: "This guy is beautiful, right?" "What about this one?" Being hit with such statements head-on with a fastball is a bit much. I think I laughed uncontrollably out of some kind of defense mechanism, like dodging a bullet by shifting my body. Perhaps it means the intensity of the feelings expressed there was so overwhelming that I couldn't handle it otherwise.

Incidentally, the other visitors were all women, and none of them burst out laughing. They seemed quite amused, murmuring things like, "See how clearly defined those lip contours are? That's proof of youth, isn't it? ♥"

My senior at Dentsu Inc. once said, "We don't call it 'advertising' unless it triggers some kind of value shift in the consumer's heart." Seeing Mr. Ogushi's solo exhibition reminded me anew that a "strong conviction" is essential to move people's feelings. They say "laying your cards on the table," but it requires the resolve to literally bare everything inside your gut. Surely that includes embarrassing things you wouldn't want others to see, but if you convey your feelings without flinching, it should move the other person far more than any objectively correct analysis-driven argument. This photo exhibition became an opportunity for me to reconsider my own inner world – what exactly is my "theory of the beautiful boy"?

Ms. Ogushi, who lives in Saga, stayed at my humble home as a "guest" for the 14 days of her solo exhibition. Her stay was a whirlwind, but once she left, the house felt empty. My wife murmured, "Ms. Ogushi is gone now, isn't she?" This Christmas feels lonelier than usual, and I'm sure it's all because of the "Beautiful Boy Typhoon."

Later, delicious vegetables grown by Ms. Ogushi's father arrived.

Incidentally, I hear Ms. Ogushi will also have a solo exhibition at her hometown's "Saga Shimbun Gallery" starting Friday, January 9th next year. If you're nearby, please do go!

Enjoy!