The baby looked pale as it started to emerge from the mother's body, worrying Hisateru Takikawa, who had been attending to the woman for hours since her labor started.
At the time, he was 22 and practiced midwifery in one of his courses at nursing school.
When the baby's body was in full view and it gave a loud, healthy first cry, its skin turned red instantly. "The moment I saw it, I felt goose bumps," said Takikawa, now a 27-year-old registered nurse working at a Tokyo hospital.