Kitty-chan

This isn't the most detailed whiteboard doodle I've done, or the best, but it is one of my favorites, simply because of why it was drawn. All the drawings I've done up to this point were originally for my fourth graders, who were first graders when I first came to Japan. They were also the class I was with during the Tohoku Earthquake a couple years ago now, and they are hands-down my favorite class ever. Always have been. So, I originally started drawing things the fourth graders requested, with an occasional request from the sixth graders (who benefited from following the fourth graders' class) thrown in there. This drawing is one of my favorites because a little girl named Ai requested it, who is the ONLY girl in the entire class of very rambunctious (well-behaved and sweet, but super energetic) fourth grade boys. She asked me, in a very quiet voice, if I would draw her a Kitty-chan (Hello Kitty), even though she thought it was kind of selfish of her to even ask, as she was the only one who liked it.

I drew her name in kanji and a Kitty-chan the very next week; she was almost in tears she was so happy when she saw it, and all the boys danced around her in a circle and cheered and celebrated that she got what she wanted.