KU: Ueda Kumiyo

BASICS

SCHOOL

PERSONALITY:

Kumiyo comes off as a very cold person, maybe a little snobby. She is a rather shy person and tries to have as minimal human interaction as possible. Because of her past experience, she has a hard time trusting people. The plump girl cannot help but feel if someone interacts with her, its either because they want something with her or just ridiculing her. It’s safe to say, she is pretty pessimistic about life. Kumiyo is overly self-conscious and believes she is always the center of the joke. There are so many things that she wants to do but is afraid to take the initiative step because of all the discouraging feedback. So Kumiyo has settled on being a wallflower and will only open up for those in her little circle (which is basically her supportive family). Unfortunately, by shutting out just about the entire world, the girl has become quite delusional and does not accept feedback very well.

When she isn’t being negative and self-conscious, Kumiyo can be a very sweet and generous girl. She knows how it feels to be neglected and empathizes with those who feel unloved, but the fact that she is very distrusting of people is hard to over come. She doesn’t admit it, but Kumiyo is passionate about music. She could go on and on about techniques and theories. It’s just about the only thing nowadays that could get Kumiyo excited. Unfortunately, she has assumed the older responsible sister role and is going to stick with that until her grave.

HISTORY

Being part of Japan’s 3% population that is over weighted or obese, life wasn’t easy for Ueda Kumiyo. When she was younger, she was just like any other little Japanese girl: tiny and adorable. This was probably one of the very little times her classmates had ever accepted her as part of status quo. Her parents, at the time, owned a small restaurant, struggling to take care both the restaurant and their 3 children. Often times, the children would sit in a booth of the store, always studying, playing, and eating. Unfortunately, Kumiyo was cursed with slow metabolism. That combined with the amount she ate lead to the hastened weight gain.

Since she was still young, her parents thought it was just baby fat, which somehow reappeared. As years past, her weight only increased. Kumiyo wasn’t a very active child either. She had aspired to become a singer, her idols being Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Michael Jackson, and Aretha Franklin. But with no extra money for vocal lessons, she would have to make do with shower singing.

As her weight increased, so did the bullying. Her classmates began to alienate her. Boys had teased her for being too fat to participate in field day events. Girls were the worst though. They had spread rumors about her, messed with her belongings, and even physically hurt her. Unlike in America, in Japan, once the elite classmates have chosen a person to alienate, the rest of the class would follow. Teachers were also discouraged to help the alienated kid. Every friend she ever had turned her back on Kumiyo. Only her former best friends had the audacity to wave to her.

Kumiyo was severely discouraged from participating in any school club or event, but there was one club she clung on to for a bit: choir. Her passion for singing was fierce, yet, penetrable by years of bullying. No, she wasn’t the best singer but she had a lot of potential. The music teachers could see that and paid a little more attention towards Kumiyo. But that had only worsened her bullying problems. Girls, who have been ignoring her the entire time, began finding her an eyesore and eventually had her driven out of choir.

She learned that she could only protect herself by isolating herself from the world. Hindsight, by doing this, she also pushes away those who want to help her too. Her brother and father didn’t do much for her but offered to buy her anything she wanted. As for her mother and sister, they tried improving her self-confidence by buying her trendy clothes and giving her makeovers from time to time. Because they were family, she played along. Kumiyo has even denied professional help. Physicians have warned her to cut back on eating and change her diet. If she continues her lifestyle, she will die young. She already has high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

For the rest of her secondary school career, Kumiyo kept her head down and powered through, enduring all the pain and torture. And she has decided that she will continue to keep her head down through out university as well. Her dreams of becoming a singer had died a long time ago. The girl is convinced that her purpose in life is to help her parents run their now successful restaurant chain and eventually inherit it.

MISCELLANEOUS