Photo/Illutration Aika Anami delivers a speech at the annual high school sign language speech contest on Aug. 27 in Tokyo. (Yuki Shibata)

“If you compare yourself to a color, what color would it be?” Aika Anami asked in a calm manner as she began her speech in sign language.

Anami, 17, is a student at Miyakonojo Sakura Chokaku Shien Gakko, a school for students with hearing impairment, in Miyazaki Prefecture. She participated in an annual high school sign language speech contest held on Aug. 27 in Tokyo’s Yurakucho district.

When she was in elementary school, all her friends were fellow students at a school for the hearing impaired. She felt “embarrassed” when she was seen by outsiders to be communicating in sign language.

Using the color analogy, she said it was a “pitch-black era” in her life. When she said so, her hands moved in a way that reflected her sad expression.

But she had an eye-opening experience when she was a junior high school student. She saw deaf students from other prefectures use sign language in front of people without hesitation.

“They were so cool I got goosebumps,” Anami said. The young girl’s world started expanding rapidly. 

When she entered high school, she gained opportunities through painting, which is her passion, to communicate with people without hearing impairment by using a smartphone tool to convert audio to text.

“My color now is gray.” It is a gray created by mixing many different colors. I want to become like a rainbow in the future by accentuating each of my colors, she said with a smile.

It was a beautiful speech full of fresh sensibilities. But she did not win a prize. I thought she was disappointed and, concerned about how she was doing, I sent an email to a teacher at her school. I received a polite reply.

She enjoyed delivering the speech and exchanging ideas with other participants, the teacher said.

The experience is “a treasure that I will remember for the rest of my life,” Anami said about the contest in the reply email.

One of her paintings was attached to the email. The painting had a variety of exquisitely delicate and gentle colors, including a deep blue like the sea and a pale red like a Japanese morning glory.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 3

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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