Celebrate Bobby Ologun on His birthday

Bobby Ologun (ボビー・オロゴン Bobī Orogon, born Alaji Karim Ologun on April 8, 1973) is a Nigerian-born TV personality in Japan, and a mixed martial artist. In Japan, he is known simply as Bobby (ボビー). He speaks English, Yoruba and Japanese. He currently lives in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture. On July 26, 2007, he announced on Mezamashi TV that he had become a naturalized citizen of Japan, taking his wife's surname and registering officially as Bobby Konda (近田 ボビー Konda Bobī).

He is currently working as the narrator for You wa Nani Shi ni Nippon e (YOUは何しに日本へ).

Early Life

Ologun is the third brother in a family of thirty-one brothers and sisters. After graduating from a Nigerian university, he came to Japan as an assistant to a trading company which his father manages. In 2001, he worked a part-time job in the kitchen of a cafe in Daikanyama, Shibuya while also first appearing in Sanma Akashiya's television program Sanma's Super Karakuri-TV on Tokyo Broadcasting System as a non-Tarento interviewee. By the end of the year, he was regular on the popular skits featured on Karakuri-TV, The Funniest Language School, as a student.

Fame by gaffing

Foreigners who have trouble speaking Japanese are often featured in Japanese variety shows, which may explain the immediate success of Ologun. His frequent confusion (or feigned confusion) quickly made him an instant star on the Karakuri-TV show.

Some of his famous mistakes were:

·         Called the famous diviner Kazuko Hosoki, "Usagi-sensei" (Rabbit teacher) instead of "Hosoki-sensei" on her TV show.

·         Confused tensai (genius) with hentai (pervert).

·         Rearranged Ayumi Hamasaki's name into "Amaguri Kayumi" (Itchy Sweet-chestnut). However, the "Amaguri" could have been a switchout for "Hamaguri" which is a type of clamthat is symbolic of the vulva in Japanese culture (it is common to switch taboo words for their closest spelled or phonetic equivalent in Japanese entertainment), hence the lasting novelty of the gaffe. He is supposedly a fan of Hamasaki.

·         Routinely mistook "Kinchō" (nervous) with "Kanchō" (enema).