The International Event "Global Getdown"

On November 21st, the day of the international event, I was in the hall called "The Cave" where the event would be held.  I was helping the host of the event, decorating the hall with countries' flags while I was waiting for my rehearsal time.  I was as nervous as if I were a runner before a race because I was going to sing a Japanese song as a Japanese representative in front of lots of people from around the world.

After the rehearsal, I got back to my house to eat and take a nap, but I could neither eat enough nor go to sleep because of being under pressure. Half of my mind, on the other hand, was secretly thinking that I wanted to make it fun for the audience some way. "Only singing a Japanese song is not really exciting", I thought, so I made funny T-shirts writing Japanese flags and some Japanese words on white shirts and prepared secret stuff too.

It was around seven thirty p.m. in "The Cave", that an audience started gathering, and a dance group, one of the performers was break-dancing.  In the silent darkness, "Global Getdown" started with the Korean anthem. People from around the world performed one after another and entertained and excited the audience. I was doubtful if my performance could win a burst of applause as other performers could.

When the event was almost ending, our turn came up. Thinking back on the time when I decided to join this event as a performer, I had same feeling as I felt at the time, "I want other countries people as many as possible know about Japan or start being interested in Japan as much as possible." Setting foot on the stage, although I got extremely tensed up, I thought "Now, I better just sing it."

After singing, the audience gave us a burst of applause. Even though most of them could not understand what we were singing about, I felt the Japanese music and our enthusiasm for people to know about Japan touched them. Also, things I prepared that T-shirts and "Shuriken", a weapon ninja use, made from paper cause to gather people's laughter and receive well response. I was glad I decided to perform in the night.