Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 10] "The real Hollywood [A lost foreigner]"

In October 2007, 3 months have passed since I came to LA. I felt time went so fast. I was learning English hard though I was getting frustrated because I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do most in the US. The dream to become an actor in Hollywood was my biggest dream I had in my life. I felt the pressure sometimes from that.. Anyway I didn’t reach the place where I could tell it was hard to become an actor here or not. I spent 3 months just to improve my English skills (I still had strong Japanese accents though)

It was about time to make moves! I started looking for an acting school. I didn’t expect to be on movies by chance. If I could be on movies only by luck, the meanings of challenging here for me would be nothing. Where would I find information?? The modern world gave us internet. It greatly helped me! When I was looking for some information, I always used internet or magazines for actors. I noticed how much internet helped me for my dreams. I got my ticket to the US online and I also applied for my language school online. At the point maybe I was lucky that I could use it. But the laws of immigrations and so on were getting more strict these days, so maybe becoming an actor in Hollywood for foreigners was as hard as before. Then the most important thing to challenge was just myself. I was looking for information for a while…

I always believed my intuition. I followed my intuition after long deliberation. Then after a few days, I found a right school finally! I really wanted to take everyday acting courses though I was a language school student, so I chose to go to an acting school once a week. The school was nearby Hollywood. I was getting so excited! I called the school. A lady answered. I asked her if a Japanese guy could attend classes there. She said yes. But she had to ask me some questions to test me. She said, “Why do you want to study acting here?” She me asked some of other questions. I answered what made me come here and so on and we finally finished the test. At the end she said “OK , the new class will start next week. Come to the class next week!” This class was short term class though no matter what I decided to join the class.

Next Sunday I was heading to the acting school. The distance between my place and the acting school was even farther than the one between my place and language school. But I really didn’t care about that. It had been about half a year since I last acted. I had 3 months to study acting in this school. I didn’t know what I could learn in this acting school. I just had to do what I could.

I arrived at the acting school. There were some people. The rest came there after a while, then we got total 20 students there. The teacher came into the room and she explained what the purpose of this class was. It was to develop ourselves and stand at the start as an actor. We introduced ourselves first. By the way everyone were foreigners! Oh well I meant I was the only foreigner there. My introduction with Japanese accents finished. We did some exercises and then we were about to do improvisation. We made some groups with 2 men and 2 women and we sat on a sofa. That was all about the scene. We just sat down there and we could say whatever as we liked.

I saw they were acting then the foreigner had to act in the last group in this class. All of us got on the stage one by one. 2 girls and 1 guy were already on the stage. I was the last one to walk in. I got on the stage and sat on a sofa like others did. They were talking casually and I thought “Oh this is how Americans talk..” and joined their talk. Sometimes they couldn’t understand what I said though I was doing well at the time. When we were about to finish the scene, girls left the stage suddenly! Only I and another guy Dino were on the stage. He had some accents not from California (sorry for saying this Dino..) and of course I had the strongest accents from the island Japan. Then what happened ?? We could barely understand each other. The scene was getting funnier in a way. After 5 minutes I thought we should have ended this scene soon and I also thought maybe Dino would finish this scene. But that never happened. OK I was the one to finish this scene. He said, “What were you doing by now??” Well I just answered generally and said,

“But what were you doing in my house??”

All of students never expected that I would say this. The audience burst out laughing! This was my first acting experience in English. I had never had something like this experience , so I was glad about that. It had been 7 years since I stood on my first soil stage in Japan. “Now I’m standing on the stage in America” It was just a small stage. Though it was only a departure of my long journey…

To be continued...

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 09] "The real Hollywood [Survival Trainings]"

Today let me talk about some extra stories in Hollywood!

To clarify everything, at first I have to talk about my life in the US…

My place was around Los Angeles. It took 45 minutes to go to LA. So you would know my place was kind of in the country side. I was living in an apartment with my friend Oscar , his younger brother and his mom. They liked animals so they had a dog and a cat. I had never dreamed to have animals in the US! I was so glad about that. But there was no way that the cat would put me in a hard situation…

I didn’t think it was home-staying. I think they thought like the same way too. But anyway I appreciated them so much that they helped me a lot. So I got one more reason to succeed.

One of the hardest situations came to me in Summer. California is so dry and sunrays are so strong. Of course oranges grow up good. One of the reasons I went to LA was to get to know about America. That was why I didn’t only study but enjoyed too. I went to some beaches with my close friends. First time when I saw American sea was on Independence Day. I realized there were so many American people! Usually nobody was walking outside though.

Then I went to Laguna Beach and Long Beach . American beaches seemed to have their own characteristic. Laguna Beach had the highest waves I had ever seen. I was swallowed by the waves and they threw me to the ground. Luckily I just got some bruises on my body.. My friends got them too. But the worst thing happened at Long beach! It didn’t have high waves. But the streams of the sea were so strong that we couldn’t stay still. And sometimes they pulled us diagonally. I didn’t know why but that reminded me of an avalanche of rocks and earth. This beach had some other characteristics. It was a shallow beach. I wanted to check where it got deeper, so I went to further out alone. The streams were not that strong at the time though I didn’t know why I did that.. Anyway when I was going to far away , it didn’t get deeper at all. So I looked back and I noticed I was going too far!! I tried to go back to the beach.. But… My body was being pulled strongly, and my body didn’t go forward.. I could only proceed to the beach little by little.. At the time … I heard something snapped! <.p>


I was swimming though my sight became dark.. I saw some goggles were floating ! They were mine! I remembered something! The cat in my place she was biting cables and messing them up! My goggles were one of them.. The rubber was ragged… I tied up everything by swimming in one place trying not to go underwater. I tried to go back the beach again. I suddenly thought I came here to become an actor and I couldn’t die this way! I called up all my courage and tried it again harder! Finally I could handle the streams and my body was proceeding to the beach! While I was going back the beach, a surfer asked me if I needed help. I answered. “It’s ok but thanks” I was really ok at the time because my goggles were alright and I finished the most difficult part already. I arrived at the beach! I was exhausted… but I made it! After a while my friend told me that I should have swam diagonally against waves. I didn’t know about that tactic.. But I learned something from that experience. And I got to know I should be always paying attention to cats.

Another occurrence happened in the morning one day. I was getting ready for school. I had to concentrate always for driving because it was a 1 hour drive. Nothing special happened until I got on a freeway. Then something happened to me…

I got on the freeway and stayed in the 2nd lane from the left. I was listening to the radio. The weather was nice so I felt good. Then I heard a weird noise.. The sound of the engine was weird .. It was too high pitched compared to usual. I thought maybe something was wrong with my ears. But I could hear the music from radio like always!! When I noticed about that, the car was slowing down itself. The accelerator didn’t work.. Then black smoke came out from in front of the car and car was wrapped by the unhealthy smoke.. Then white smoke was coming out next!! It was like a movie! But anyway I had no time to think about stupid stuff, so I tried to pull over. I turned on the emergency ramps. My car was getting slower still and the speed was already 40miles/h (About 60km/h). The only good thing at the time was I was being calm. Then I could reach the space at the right side.. It was over. I survived! But the engine died. So I called my friends and Oscar and Dai came there and helped me. At the time a towtruck from the government happened to find us and helped my car get off from the freeway.

Then we called another tawtruck and took my car to a mechanic. I thought maybe this would be nothing but it was something.. The mechanic said he couldn’t fix the engine. I had 2 choices that was to change the engine or change the car.. Anything could happen in America. That was beyond my imagination and became real. The reason why my car broke was because it was leaking oil. The ex-owner thought she fixed it but it wasn’t repaired. Anyway she had no idea about cars, so it was not her fault. I decided to fix it. It would cost $1000. Maybe I was lucky in a bad situation because the mechanic could also change the timing belt and the water pump which we had to change once in a while. Then I stared my train life again. It was ok because I could meet some of my train friends again.

I want to warn all of you, when you buy an used car, you need to do a full-check on the car.

I could go through extraordinary experiences and survived. That was why I realized how much it was great for me to just live and pursue my dream to become an actor in Hollywood. I would stand a hard life. I just wanted to continue pursuing my dream. It was worth trying in this place.

Hollywood is the center of the movie industry all over the world. I will not regret anything. All I need now is to have stronger spirit and continuation. I will fulfill other needs later.

I survived and finally was about to take a small step forward…

To be continued...

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 08] "The real Hollywood [A Greenhorn]"

I got my driver’s license for California and my car. they were simple but they were special for me. I felt I accomplished my little missions.

Let’s talk about my school life! By this time I always walked to the station and took the train to get to the subway. It always took 1 hour to get my school. What was hard was that I had to walk about 30 minutes under strong harmful sunrays. I understood why Americans wore sunglasses and of course I got mine. My school zone became a freeway. I should have known what that really meant.. It took 45 minutes to get to school. But if there was traffic, it took..

2 hours

2hours.. I thought finally I ended my train life which lasted from Japan.. Then this happened! But I still liked driving. That was the only help. Anyway I had to continue school to stay in the US longer. I had no time to think I hated this or that.

Going to school wasn’t only meaningful for staying in the US but it also developed my English skills. Sometimes Americans couldn’t understand what I said.. I decided to complete all classes and graduate. Language school was kind of scary for me because if I wanted I could stay there for 4 years or longer. I didn’t need that stability. I thought stability would kill my possibilities. I kept studying English though my English didn’t seem like it was getting better for awhile…

September. Of course I tried something to get involved in the entertainment industry in the US. I found a Japanese reporter’s audition by chance. I had no experiences as a reporter but I just wanted to have my first audition in Hollywood. I went to the Japanese TV station to have an audition. The result was.. I failed.. I had no experiences and my Japanese was getting rusty.. I had another audition on another day. That was a dancer’s audition for a Japanese singer. I hadn’t danced for a few years. I couldn’t move my body well and failed this audition too. These were the Japanese auditions I had in Hollywood. I wasn’t ready to have these auditions though I wanted to start something in Hollywood. I also thought I could do dancing or modeling without a native American’s English accent.

How about becoming a model? I tried out for it. I was looking for chances as a model at the time. 2 or 3 months had past since I started my school, so some of my classmates had to go back to their country. We had a little farewell party for them. One of my best friends Ernest had to go home because the US denied his visa. I realized this country was severe. We promised to meet someday again. We were eating at a Thai restaurant. When we were leaving, someone talked to me and he said “why don’t you do modeling?” I couldn’t believe what he said because I was thinking about that those days. I said “I will think about it” and we left.

I went home and thought maybe it was good to have some experiences in the modeling industry. After a awhile , I called him and went to meet him. He said “How about going to the Asian’s model contest next year?” That was his plan. He used to be a model too. He was working in a local TV station at the time. After that I started going to his model lessons after school. I also started learning how to do modeling by watching some movies. After a few weeks , I had a chance to meet his models. They all were Thai and I heard they were famous in the Thai community. But I doubted if they wanted to do modeling in the American industry. After that we went home.

I rethought about modeling. I knew I didn’t come here to do modeling in the Asian community in America. If so, it was better to do modeling in Japan. About modeling, I watched some movies of the top models. But actually it was not really attractive to me.
It was ok to just see the industry but it smelled so much like advertisement. I called the guy and finished it. As I thought before, my life as a model became a really short one.

The model industry which I never got involved and the dance industry which I worked in for 3 years, they were not what I wanted at the time. I didn’t pursue my career as an actor at the time though my experiences at this time clarified my aim. They also made me and the past me in the dance industry separated.

I arrived at Hollywood. But I was still looking for the place which Hollywood existed...

To be continued...

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 07] "The real Hollywood [Entering America]"

I went through the main gate of the airport. Here is the exit of Japan. I saw some young guys were waiting for the airplane alone. I wanted to know why they were there and what made them go abroad. I arrived at the gate for my airplane. The weather was getting worse and it was cloudy. I didn’t really care about the weather because I was about to see the new world. When I noticed , I was already in the airplane and the airplane started flying. Let’s go!

It would take about 10 hours to get to LA. On the way , the airplane went into thick clouds and it was thundering inside. That was scary and I thought “Will my life end here ?” Well after awhile , we got out from the thick clouds and everything was just fine. I was listening to music and then fell asleep.

I felt strong vibrations below my feet.. I didn’t know what happened! Oh I arrived!
OK I couldn’t see the American continent. That was why I couldn’t realize that I was already in America. I arrived! The airport smelled like a foreign country. There were so many kinds of people, so I thought this was the whole world! My friend Oscar was there.
He was with Dai. We went to their house..

We went on the freeway. There were 5 lanes on each side. I noticed each lane was much wider than Japanese ones. I noticed trees around the freeway were almost dead. I never expected those brown trees in California. After one hour we got off from the freeway. The area of their apartment was in a good area. We brought my stuff into their apartment. “ Here is my new home! ” I was excited to live in a new place because I had lived in the same house my whole life. We went to eat something American. We ate thick American foods and enjoyed them!

My new life just started. I thought about what I needed to become an actor. There were some reasons I decided to stay in Los Angeles. One of reasons was to study acting. One of the other reasons was to find out if I liked everything here. If I hated it here, how could I become an American actor here? I had to make sure if it was worth challenge Hollywood.

I became a student to stay here longer. My school life was supposed to start after 1 week. My place was really great but I had some problems. It took at least 45 minutes to get tto my school from the house. So I asked Oscar to drive me to the DMV, then I could get a guide book for a driver’s license. I could only study at home because of transportation problems. It was weird to study how to drive in a foreign country because I didn’t drive in Japan.

It would take maybe 30 minutes to go to a convenience store. Nothing was convenient. After 3 or 4 days, I would go to the DMV to take a test. I was surprised because I could take a paper test in Japanese language! So I chose it. But it didn’t work well.. I was studying with a English guide book. So I didn’t understand questions in Japanese.. I failed.. If I failed 3 times, I would have to pay $30 extra. I felt I had 2 more chances.

My language school started. My English was still immature. I didn’t know about American accents and I didn’t know how to talk casually. I saw some Japanese people. It was my first time to see other Japanese here in America. Only teachers were American and others were foreigners just like me. I could communicate with a lot of people and cultures there. After a while, my friend Steven from school drove me to the DMV. But I failed again.. Was I rushing ? Yes I couldn’t waste one moment to become an actor.

How was I commuting to school ? I was taking the train. I couldn’t believe that I used the train even in America! Me and the trains couldn’t be separated.. I used a local line and a metro line. Some American people talked to me. That was funny, so I couldn’t forget about that. Sometimes to get home, I had to wait for the train for 1 hour in a station..

OK this was third time to go take the paper test! The result was… I passed it! I got a temporary driver’s license. Then I went on the streets. Oscar and his brother Bobby were working day time on weekdays. So they helped me learn how to drive at night. I appreciated them a lot. I asked Oscar why he could help me a lot and he said “I wanna believe your dream and help you to make your dream” I couldn’t betray them. Then I got one more reason to succeed as an actor. My practice days started. It was a manual car, so I could barely start the car in the early days.

After 3 weeks since I arrived here, I got used to see everything here. It was not like a fantasy anymore. I decided to take the exam for driver’s license. A white lady was an instructor and she was talking so fast. I guess it was too speedy. I couldn’t understand what she said and I made mistakes. Then I failed.. After 1 week, I challenged it again. Finally I got my license! What I needed at the time was only my car..

How could I find my car?? I checked free papers and looked online. I went to look at some cars but they were bad cars… I found a good car in a Japanese website. I went to see the car. It had some dents but still ran strong. I talked with my friend and decided to buy it! The owner was going back to Japan. So I could get the car after a few weeks. We went there again. The owner was washing the car for me and said “Good luck!” and gave me the keys. I hoped someday after I grew up , the owner would see me on movies. The keys were also keys of becoming an actor…

I finally got my car. Everything seemed like it was going good. I had to overcome some trials later…

To be continued...

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 06] "My challenges in Hollywood [Trail 6 The Finale]"

OK now it’s time for the grand finale for the past me!!
I was writing this column to make the past me catch up with the present me. I had to tell a lot of stories to show the reason why I chose to become a Hollywood actor. I never thought about my past as I described it here. Now let’s go back to the topic!!

March 2006, when I was 19, finally I was thrown into the entertainment industry with nothing. Actually I did it by myself. I had nothing left. I didn’t have any savings at all and I didn’t belong to any agency. “Well what should I do??”
At this time in my mind, the idea to become an actor became solid. I just couldn’t figure out how to become an actor. I had nothing , so if I would become an actor from there, I thought I would become a skilled actor. It was I that was putting myself in harder situations. That could make me be more challenging. I remembered that when I was in junior high , I always challenged my limit. I also remembered my original intention.
“What should I do??” I talked to the true myself again. I always thought if I calmed down and talked to my real mind, my mind could always give me the real answers. I did it again like I did it when I decided to quit belonging to the biggest agency! I took a while until I found out my answers. At first I had to clarify what choices I had…

The first choice was finding an agency. Belonging to an agency meant I could have a lot of opportunities. The second choice was to belong to a training school for actors. Maybe most actors had to go through this step. My skills as an actor were not enough to get me back on the stages. Though I had experience in both already. Would I repeat the same things?? I didn’t like doing the same things over and over. So I tried to find other choices. I didn’t belong to any community at the time. But I didn’t think it was hopeless. I thought to myself, I couldn’t lose anything and that gave me freedom! I enjoyed spending time with my friends. But I also enjoyed being alone. When I was with my friends I could have fun and change ideas And when I was alone, I could discover ,more about myself. So I could face my true self. “Do what I really want to do! Do what others don’t do!” If we pursue to get ideas, they would always come into our brains suddenly. Then I got an idea..

I will go to Hollywood!!

Finally everything I did in my life came together. Everything was making sense about going to Hollywood. In my first column, I described that "Friday Foreign Movies Theater" gave me inspiring experiences. The experience was living inside of me quietly.. I had nothing left.. I only had time and freedom. That’s why I thought I shouldn’t waste my time as an actor by doing lessons inefficiently. I thought I wanted to touch the real entertainment industry at least in a few years. Because I knew somehow those experiences in Hollywood would help me someday. “OK let’s do my best and die for my dream!” Because I also thought America was dangerous. Anyway if I died when I was rotten, I would regretted , but if I died when I was trying to reach my dream , I wouldn’t regret it. I had to bet my life.

Then I had to get everything started. At first I felt I wanted to stay there at least 3 months. I wanted to study about America and wanted to make sure I liked it there. It was hard to keep my desire to go to American and work in Japan. Well what would I need ? I had to accomplish more things to make my dream come true.

The first thing I needed was better English skill. English .. Oh English!? That was familiar with me the most! I was studying English since I was in the 2nd grade in junior high. Finally my efforts for English came into an effect. My mother and older brother used to say “Why did you waste a lot of money for English??” I betrayed their bad expectation. The idea that I would use English in my life was correct. I became English an addict again. This time I tried to study English by myself.

One of the other things that I needed was information. I knew nothing about America. I didn’t know where to live , how long to visit and whether if I’d go to school or not. I just thought maybe the end of this year would be a good timing to go there.

The next thing I needed was money. For my aim , I decided to work harder. I didn’t like to make money by doing regular jobs though I had no choice, so I started working full time. I started taking it seriously and I threw away my biased view about regular jobs. I noticed I shouldn’t have waited for fortune to bring me good things. To get what I really wanted , I said to myself “Rely on myself. I’m the only one who can make my way!”

Of course one thing I had to get was a passport. I was 19 years old at the time. So I could only get a 5 year visa. It was the first time that I felt the time of my birthday’s importance. I decided to get a 10 year passport when I became 20 years old.

I might have had more stuff I needed. I knew what I had to get at the time. Then I became a job-hopping part-time worker. But I had strong ambitions.

To make my dreams come true , I didn’t care which job I chose. I just wanted to experience what I had never experienced and I also thought maybe it would be great if I got some skills by doing jobs. I got a lot of jobs like a trainer, a shop assistant, a bartender, a guard, a web developer, a worker in a warehouse, a salesman, an operator, and a photographer. Of course I worked as an actor. I liked creative jobs always but I disliked the job which I had to stay in one place like a guard. I kept working...

When I noticed, I was about to become 20 years old. My close friends celebrated with me. I was so happy about that because I didn’t have those kind of experiences a lot. When I was a teenager, I decided not to drink. So it became my first time to drink. I never thought beer tasted good. I thought other possibilities and responsibilities appeared to me. I went to the American embassy after a while. I could never forget the solemn atmosphere there. To get a passport, some people waited for 3 months. But I couldn’t wait that long, so I was worried about that. But I got it in 5 days!! Finally I got my own ID card with a picture of mine. The day I was suppose to leave was getting close. I was planning to have $3000 to $4000 for the US and go there in the end of this year. But I never happened…

I shouldn’t really get in to detail about this but my family had financial troubles at the time. My family asked me to stay in Japan longer. I was wavering between my dream and my family. I was suffering to make my decision. Finally I made my decision. “I will stay!” I wanted to do something for my family and I didn’t know what I could learn in America in 3 months. I had just quit the job as a photographer, then I had to find other jobs. I didn’t expect it but I would meet my destiny later..

One of the photographers like me asked me something. He told me his friend was looking for an actor. So my friend asked me to meet the aspiring director. I accepted and went to meet him…

I had 6 more months to make money in Japan. So to have more experiences , I accepted the director’s offer and I acted for him.

Well now about my English. I started learning English through the internet, books and friends. I was starting to remember how to speak in English. Still my accent of R and L were terrible though..

I started working as a sales person. When I was a teen, I didn’t have a lot choices about work. Because in Japan, they don’t give young people responsible jobs. I hated the fact that people saw only my age. I guess that was why I went into the field where older people worked..

By joining a student film, I realized I was still nothing as an actor. I had to prepare everything for my role. But no one helped me like when I acted on TV. The director’s existence was big for my life. I couldn’t act well at all. I got stressed about it and swore to myself to grow up. The director said he didn’t know why young aspiring actors like me didn’t watch movies. That was true. I had to know what kind of world I was trying to get into! I started watching movies more. I could learn something about acting through this shooting. I still couldn’t compare myself to other actors though. Finally we finished the long shooting. The day of my flight was coming…

How could I stay in America longer?? By becoming a student, the problem was solved. I became a language school student. I had less than $10000 though I decided to stay in America as long as possible. I couldn’t find a place to live until the last 2 months before trip. But my friend which I guided in Tokyo helped me. He told me that I could stay at his place. I couldn’t have met him if I went to America last year. It was like a miracle that I met a guy like him. It was time to say goodbye to my friends in Japan. I didn’t miss them because I thought we would be same even if we were staying in different places. I wasn’t scared about America but only one thing was on my mind. It was about my loving dog which I lived with for 14 years. I knew my family and my friends would be alright. But dogs can’t live as long as like we do. I thought this might be farewell.
Some people might think it’s stupid, but I could hardly avoid crying. I got a lot of things from him. Well finally the day was about to come…

June 30th

The day. The sky was so clear and I felt good. I talked to my family one by one. I was feeling the excitement which was swelling up from my mind! I spent a little time with my dog and left. My parents drove me to the airport. Some of my friends also went to the airport for me. I was happy to have good friends. We talked and laughed a lot. I ate curry rice at the restaurant in the airport. We took some pictures. It was about time..
I could never forget this moment. I went through the gate and I said to them

“I’ll be gone for a while!”

PS. Thanks for reading my column for 3 months!! I never expected, it would take 3 months! My life before going to Hollywood was like this. If I wrote everything too seriously, sorry about that!

This sounds like farewell?? No it’s not! I will continue writing my column as long as possible! Well I will write more in a couple of weeks! See you.

To be continued...

The real Hollywood [Survival Training ～

Today let me talk about some extra stories in Hollywood!

To clarify everything, at first I have to talk about my life in the US…

My place was around Los Angeles. It took 45 minutes to go to LA. So you would know my place was kind of in the country side. I was living in an apartment with my friend Oscar , his younger brother and his mom. They liked animals so they had a dog and a cat. I had never dreamed to have animals in the US! I was so glad about that. But there was no way that the cat would put me in a hard situation…

I didn’t think it was home-staying. I think they thought like the same way too. But anyway I appreciated them so much that they helped me a lot. So I got one more reason to succeed.

One of the hardest situations came to me in Summer. California is so dry and sunrays are so strong. Of course oranges grow up good. One of the reasons I went to LA was to get to know about America. That was why I didn’t only study but enjoyed too. I went to some beaches with my close friends. First time when I saw American sea was on Independence Day. I realized there were so many American people! Usually nobody was walking outside though.

Then I went to Laguna Beach and Long Beach . American beaches seemed to have their own characteristic. Laguna Beach had the highest waves I had ever seen. I was swallowed by the waves and they threw me to the ground. Luckily I just got some bruises on my body.. My friends got them too. But the worst thing happened at Long beach! It didn’t have high waves. But the streams of the sea were so strong that we couldn’t stay still. And sometimes they pulled us diagonally. I didn’t know why but that reminded me of an avalanche of rocks and earth. This beach had some other characteristics. It was a shallow beach. I wanted to check where it got deeper, so I went to further out alone. The streams were not that strong at the time though I didn’t know why I did that.. Anyway when I was going to far away , it didn’t get deeper at all. So I looked back and I noticed I was going too far!! I tried to go back to the beach.. But… My body was being pulled strongly, and my body didn’t go forward.. I could only proceed to the beach little by little.. At the time … I heard something snapped! <.p>


I was swimming though my sight became dark.. I saw some goggles were floating ! They were mine! I remembered something! The cat in my place she was biting cables and messing them up! My goggles were one of them.. The rubber was ragged… I tied up everything by swimming in one place trying not to go underwater. I tried to go back the beach again. I suddenly thought I came here to become an actor and I couldn’t die this way! I called up all my courage and tried it again harder! Finally I could handle the streams and my body was proceeding to the beach! While I was going back the beach, a surfer asked me if I needed help. I answered. “It’s ok but thanks” I was really ok at the time because my goggles were alright and I finished the most difficult part already. I arrived at the beach! I was exhausted… but I made it! After a while my friend told me that I should have swam diagonally against waves. I didn’t know about that tactic.. But I learned something from that experience. And I got to know I should be always paying attention to cats.

Another occurrence happened in the morning one day. I was getting ready for school. I had to concentrate always for driving because it was a 1 hour drive. Nothing special happened until I got on a freeway. Then something happened to me…

I got on the freeway and stayed in the 2nd lane from the left. I was listening to the radio. The weather was nice so I felt good. Then I heard a weird noise.. The sound of the engine was weird .. It was too high pitched compared to usual. I thought maybe something was wrong with my ears. But I could hear the music from radio like always!! When I noticed about that, the car was slowing down itself. The accelerator didn’t work.. Then black smoke came out from in front of the car and car was wrapped by the unhealthy smoke.. Then white smoke was coming out next!! It was like a movie! But anyway I had no time to think about stupid stuff, so I tried to pull over. I turned on the emergency ramps. My car was getting slower still and the speed was already 40miles/h (About 60km/h). The only good thing at the time was I was being calm. Then I could reach the space at the right side.. It was over. I survived! But the engine died. So I called my friends and Oscar and Dai came there and helped me. At the time a towtruck from the government happened to find us and helped my car get off from the freeway.

Then we called another tawtruck and took my car to a mechanic. I thought maybe this would be nothing but it was something.. The mechanic said he couldn’t fix the engine. I had 2 choices that was to change the engine or change the car.. Anything could happen in America. That was beyond my imagination and became real. The reason why my car broke was because it was leaking oil. The ex-owner thought she fixed it but it wasn’t repaired. Anyway she had no idea about cars, so it was not her fault. I decided to fix it. It would cost $1000. Maybe I was lucky in a bad situation because the mechanic could also change the timing belt and the water pump which we had to change once in a while. Then I stared my train life again. It was ok because I could meet some of my train friends again.

I want to warn all of you, when you buy an used car, you need to do a full-check on the car.

I could go through extraordinary experiences and survived. That was why I realized how much it was great for me to just live and pursue my dream to become an actor in Hollywood. I would stand a hard life. I just wanted to continue pursuing my dream. It was worth trying in this place.

Hollywood is the center of the movie industry all over the world. I will not regret anything. All I need now is to have stronger spirit and continuation. I will fulfill other needs later.

I survived and finally was about to take a small step forward…

To be continued...

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 05] "My challenges in Hollywood [Trail 5]"

I wanted to start a lesson. I started by buying a book which had almost all the training schools of the entertainment industry. I read through again and again. I didn’t realize that in Japan, there were that many agencies and schools in this industry. I didn’t know how to choose a good one for myself. Then after a while, I found one that would fit me. The first condition was that it didn’t interfere with my high school, the second condition was to find a school with cheap tuition, the third condition was it had to be a school which belonged to an agency and the last condition was to find an agency with famous people. Now I know some of the schools tuitions were cheap, but the quality of lessons were good but also some school’s tuitions were expensive but the quality of lessons were so bad. I finally found one which met all of my conditions! I don’t know why I chose only one school, sent only one resume. But my mind was ready for the school’s audition.

After a while , the training school replied. It’s been one year since I received an envelope for auditions. I went to have an interview. It was in September or October. The interview was held in a coffee shop. The guy from the school asked me some questions about why I applied and so on. I felt I did pretty good after that. Then the school called me. They told me that I passed! So I could join their lesson after 1 week. My first acting lesson was about to begin. My second life was also about to begin too…

OK now I’d like to write about my high school life a little bit to not forget about it! I was in the middle of third grade in high school ( Last year of high school in Japan. Students were about to have an entrance exam for a University). I was still struggling to see if I could proceed to a University but I was studying a little to not kill my choices. My thoughts changed a little by that time and I started thinking that maybe it would be good to study English in a University. My fever for English since I was in 2nd grand in junior high school was still there. I found a University where I could learn English more. But the other aspects of my life didn’t let it happen though…

Now go back to the previous topic! The training school was in the same town which I used to commute to for dancing. I couldn’t avoid remembering what I had done before. I met myself in the past sometimes. We were suppose to practice singing , acting and so on in the new school. Then I had to face my poor singing skills. And poor acting skills too. I realized I really couldn’t do anything… I was stressed because of my skills.

After a while since I started my lessons.. I quit my English school because of time. It was about time to have an entrance exam for us. One day the guy from the training school called me and I went to his office after school. I had no idea why he called me. Then he told me the reason. He told me that I could join an audition for a TV drama! The drama would start in January. He asked me if I wanted to join. But I had some problems. If I passed the audition, I had to give up going to a University because of the shooting schedule . My answer was of course yes! Then the day of the audition came…

The audition was held at a TV studio. I saw a lot of young actors like me. I thought I had to win them or I wouldn’t get any rolls. The audition started! I didn’t have a lot of experiences as an actor , so I just did my best. It finished quickly, and I didn’t know if I got my roll or not…

After a few weeks, the result came up. They told me I passed!! I couldn’t believe it! I would be on a TV drama! The drama was “Gokusen 2”! It was my first experience as an actor and it was also the start of my actor’s life. We all were getting ready to shoot the drama..

I was surrounded by trained actors , so I did my best to catch up to them! I had acting lesson for only a few months, so that’s what I could only do. The drama made me think about acting and characters. My understanding wasn’t that great, so it was hard to understand the script. Other actors sometimes gave me advise. 3 months past and we finished shooting! I couldn’t have made it without everyone’s help. I really appreciated them. But I didn’t become an actor who I still wanted be. I found I still had a lot of things to do to be an impressive actor.

Graduation. I graduated school in the drama and in my high school. They synchronized. After that I said goodbye to most of my friends. This meant a new page of my life was starting …

OK I won’t stop writing my column here! I’ve written my column about my past for 2 months. Now it’s time the past me moves forward!!

A new April came. I was still in the training school. I temporary belonged to the agency which the training school was in. So my lesson was still one day a week. I graduated high school, so I was finally able to make my own decisions. Nothing restricted me but nothing was certain about my future. I felt I started my life all over again. I was still a teenager at the time. My days with lessons and auditions started. I failed auditions again and again. As an actor I was still immature. There were thousands of actors like me in Japan. I was just one of them and didn’t stand out at all…

There was another aspect in my life. I was doing a part-time job. To do something not relating my dream was really hard for me. As I described before, I earned some money from my part-time job. I didn’t want to work 5 days. I really disliked working at my part-time job.

Lessons continued. I couldn’t find a big difference in myself like when I was practicing dancing. I thought this was really bad. I knew I would get old soon even if my acting didn’t improve. At the time, someone suddenly gave me a good opportunity!

In the drama, there were 2 comedians which did comedy together. One of them told me that they separated. He told me he wanted to enter our training school. He had a strong personality and it affected our school a lot. We didn’t get along first and argued. But soon we started always kidding with each other. He said he had an idea and told me.

“Why don’t we do stand-up comedy together??”

There were some comedian groups in the school. “Will I do stand-up comedy??” If so, I didn’t know where I would end up! But I knew I could study acting while studying comedy. I thought to myself what actor studies comedy in his life ?? I didn’t want to become a typical actor. I wanted to get something different that other actors didn’t have. Then I said…

“Let’s do it”

I danced in the school too. So I did whatever I could do.

Comedy was as deep as acting. Stand-up comedians and comedy actors are totally different. I didn’t know which was better, but it became a chance for me to learn both of them. Comedy isn’t about timing and strength and weakness only. My partner knew almost everything about comedy even though he was young. He was about 21 or 22 years old at the time. He is 2 years older than me though I could always say to him whatever I thought. We could talk about anything.

We kept practicing comedy. Acting lessons in the school weren’t as great as comedy lessons with him. I learned a lot about acting by learning comedy.

I noticed my life changed every 6 months. Maybe you can notice to believe this too.
When we started performing better, something happened. We both had strong opinions and he had a quarrel with the chief of the training school. They became really angry with each other and he quit being a student there. We stopped doing stand-up comedy. We had no choice. If this didn’t happen, I possibly may have became a comedian. Maybe..

The ordinary training days started again. I had acting lessons and singing lessons and so on. It was once a week. I still didn’t like doing something other than my dream. I thought I wasn’t living to do what I wanted to do one time a week. After about 6 months, I decided to leave the school. I said goodbye to my friends who were also rivals, hoping to meet them again in this industry someday.

It was February 2006. I didn’t belong to anything involving my dream. It was back to the beginning for me.

My life was becoming plain, but now I realize I made a good decision...

To be continued...

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 04] "My challenges in Hollywood [Trail 4]"

I started to practice dancing harder but it was also the time when I had the most fun. I was going on more stages than before. I saw myself on TV or magazines sometimes. Seeing myself through media made me feel so weird. When I stood on a stage , I felt this is what I live for!! I got a lot of inspiration from stages. At the time I was 16 and I thought I would continue this job past twenty. I was so young that I stacked to just one idea. I thought that was the only place I belonged. I started getting some money by dancing on the stages which I liked to do.
Everything has its balance , so the reaction would come to me later..

Everything went well. This was the busiest time that I ever had. As soon as I came home on bicycle, I left to a studio to perform. At that time, I spent more time for work than I spent with my friends though I thought it was worth it to do.

I was already 17 years old. Classmates started thinking about going to University. I didn’t take it as serious as they did but I also started thinking about that. Some people go to University for nothing though I really didn’t want to do that. Then I checked Universities but something was always on my mind.. Going to a University seemed like walking on the typical side on life. At least I thought so at the time..

Time went on. I was doing the exact same thing for one year. In a way, nothing special happened. In a way, I could dance on the stages still as a back-dancer. Then I talked with the boys who had the same situation like me. We talked about if we continued dancing as back-dancers and were willing to be an idol. This talk was one of the turning points of mine. I still remember it rained that day and how the coffee shop was. We talked so deep. I also thought about that in my house. I noticed I ended up where I didn’t expect.. Maybe I went too far?? I knew these experiences gave me good inspirations though. “Should I keep dancing as a back-dancer??” my answer was no. “Do I wanna be an idol??” my answer was also no. Anyway I couldn’t sing well..

I started thinking why I chose this industry. To become popular wasn’t the reason. Now I think it’s because I can express myself and impress people. But I couldn’t figure it out at the time.. I said to my close friends who were in a similar situation, “I will quit.” I also told my agency that I wanted to quit. Thinking about that, I continued working there almost 3 years. It was a short time but also irreplaceable.

“What should I do next then? Do I really want to continue working in this industry??” I couldn’t find the answers. I decided to join a soccer club in high school because I always wanted to practice playing soccer. Maybe I bothered other students because I couldn’t play soccer well.. I thought soccer was a difficult sport, but interesting. But I realized that it wasn’t as exciting as dancing on the stages. I decided to quit after a half year. I told a manager that I had something that I couldn’t continue at the same time with soccer. I guess I bothered him a lot. But I swore myself to prove what I said to the manager. I might have lost myself because the environment that I was in changed…

At the end of the 2nd year in high school, I couldn’t get call backs for auditions. I felt I wanted to start something. I found an advertisement of English school. I started loving English when I was in 2nd grade in junior high school. I liked English the most after the entertainment industry. I thought I could learn how to speak English without failing an audition for it! I had thought I had a lot of time before getting involved in the industry again. I didn’t know why but I knew I would use English somehow in my future, so I had no doubt about learning English. My parents helped me financially. The money I borrowed was the largest amount of money I’ve ever had. At the time I was in 3rd grade in high school (17 years old) and my English life had just started.

About auditions, I still kept sending some resumes every month but not as much as before. I think that’s why I didn’t get any responses from agencies at the time. I doubted if my resumes reached them.. Well, I didn’t have the strong intention to pass auditions like before at the time. Because I realized I had to finish high school to concentrate on doing what I really wanted. Anyway it was so exciting to speak English in the English school!!

It seemed like my life changed every 6 months, I started feeling something was wrong. By the time I was doing nothing with the entertainment industry for about 1 year.

“I want to stand on the stage.”

Learning English was still fun though the feelings on the stage were the only thing I missed in my life. I wanted to do something to get involved in the entertainment industry. I wanted to express something that I felt inside me.

I started looking for a training school which I could go to at least once in a week. Then I got to see another forked road. From this time, It was still far until my life started coming together…

To be continued…

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 03] "My challenges in Hollywood [Trail 3]"

The true adventure started when I was 15 years old. Something changed inside me. My column will start changing from now as my feelings changed at the time.

When I was in first grade in junior high school, nothing really changed in my life. My life was almost the same as before. One day, I got 2 envelopes. I didn’t want to get any mail since advertising companies sent me a bunch of letters.. I checked them. They were so different then letters I got before. In one envelope, my name was written by a writing brush. I had no idea what it was. I checked again and I realized I passed the first audition!! The letter was from one of the biggest agents in Japan. I checked another envelope and it was also a reminder that I passed another audition!! Finally I remembered that about half a year ago, I sent them my resumes. I still couldn’t believe that I received them at the same time on the same day because I sent them my resumes on different days. At the time, I had been practicing dance for half a year. Then I got some chances to join auditions…

In this year, June, which was my birthday month, it became a more challenging month than I ever had. I had no idea what to do in the auditions but the day came. It was held in the young part of town in Tokyo. I had never been there. My mom was so worried about me and she came with me. Well, I guess I still had my hometown Chiba’s scent that showed I was from the country side. When I got off the train, the new world appeared in front of me. I was a little nervous but my excitement was much bigger than that, so actually it didn’t matter. We got lost on the street and it probably took 30 minutes to arrive at the audition place. Finally we arrived 15 minutes before the audition started. We went inside from the big entrance. The security was so strict that only I could go to the audition room. My mom waited at the lobby. I used the elevator and met some young guys like me. I thought they were like me. Maybe they came here to have an audition. I still remember the numbered card of the audition room.

I finished the reception and quickly went inside the big room. I thought “Oh my god!!” because there were almost 50 boys inside the room!! In the first audition, they told to us to dance like the teacher did. Show time!

Now I want to talk a little bit about my school life. It was our last year in junior high school. In the baseball club, we did practice matches against other schools a lot. I played in a team sometimes but I had the most embarrassing experience at the time. We were the defense, a batter hit a ball and the ball was flying to me. It was easy to catch the ball but I dropped it!! I dropped it in front of my friends and lowerclassmen.. After that, our baseball manager said to me “Is your glove metal or something??” Everybody laughed at me, and I was so embarrassed.. I don’t know if my glove for regulation baseball caused it though I was still a poor baseball player.

Of course I thought about going to high school like others think. I had no idea which high school to choose and what to do in my future, so I decided to go to public school to find out what to do in my future. When I was thinking about it , the agent called me and said “You can stay” or something. I didn’t know what that meant and if I passed the audition, but at least I could continue dancing in the agency. That gave me an idea “maybe I should choose the closest school from my house” then I decided to go to the closest school. Luckily my older brother was in the high school , so I asked some questions and made sure the school was good. I didn’t mean to copy him, but it was the best choice for me at the time.

Everything happened at the same time! Everything didn’t wait for me, so I did as much as possible. But I couldn’t continue two auditions from other companies, so I ended up just going to one audition. I know it was rude, but I had no idea what to do except for that..

After a few months, I started showing myself on the stage as a back dancer. This time I didn’t have to stand on a soil stage. There were over 100 fans of the group I danced for. I really got nervous at the time and I couldn’t dance well.. My dance life started from this time. I was so poor at dancing, compared to seniors.. I danced on the stage only sometimes. My life was like this for one year.

How was I in school life?? Well, our baseball team went to our prefecture’s tournament , and we lost in the first match. Then we retired. My life was still like a double life but I didn’t tell my friends that I was involved in the entertainment industry at the time because I didn’t do anything really. I chose to take entrance examinations for one public school and one private school. I really wanted to go to the closest public school, so it was nothing to take more entrance examinations. I felt I wasn’t an important member of the baseball club but when I danced on the stage, I felt I was part of something. One day I put my priority on the entertainment industry more than ordinary life.

After going to the first audition, one year had already past. Nothing really changed in my life. I mean I couldn’t get a lot of jobs as a dancer. I felt something was wrong with it. I didn’t want to think it was the same as the baseball team! Other young boys started working in this industry when they were in elementary school, but I didn’t want to use it as an excuse. I seriously thought about my problems. “I can’t go beyond others if I’m doing the exact same thing as others” I noticed that I should be able to practice by myself! I decided not to belong to any club activities but practice dancing 2 hours in my house everyday! If I can adjust how I dance, I can improve myself anytime anywhere! I also thought “If I train like this for 1 year and if nothing happens, maybe I should try something different.” I didn’t listen to music until I was 14 years old.. There was a little distance between me and dancing. Besides I didn’t want to lose against guys who dye their hair!!

When I entered high school, I was really enjoying it because of new friends and the new environment. I had a dance lesson every week or every 2 weeks. Everything went so good except I couldn’t get more jobs.. I was eager to get more jobs, I was so determined. I stopped playing video games. I was concentrating more and more. I knew I was still poor at dancing but at least I realized what parts I should adjust when I was dancing. I failed a lot and succeeded sometimes. I chose to get involved in this industry because I thought it’s such a competitive world and I can be challenged. That was one of the main reasons. Once I thought I wanted to be a sports player. Basically my thought didn’t change at all. I always wanted to see what I can do (even now) and I’m still looking for a place where I belong.

My fight against my weaknesses started. Before winning others, I had to win my weaknesses. I know it sounds a little weird. That was my motto at the time. After half a year, finally something started changing. I had more confidence..

I dived into my dream world and fought the reality there. I almost gave up many times but my effort finally started paying off…

To be continued…

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 02] "My challenges in Hollywood [Trail 2]"

I finished my ordinary elementary school life. At the time most of my friends entered the same junior high school. First thing I did was choose a club activity. I realized how fun it was for me to play sports, so I decided to join one of the sports club. Soccer and baseball were really attractive to me.. I wanted to be a pro sports player. When I couldn’t decide, my friend “K” asked me to join the baseball club. That was the biggest reason I joined.

It was my first time to practice playing baseball my whole life. It cost 30000yen(300$) to get all my equip. I couldn’t believe they cost that much.. Anyway I chose a glove which is for regulation baseball but actually what I needed was a soft ball glove. I don’t know why I chose it , but later it caused me a trouble.. I couldn’t start practicing baseball when I was in elementary school, so I wasn’t a good baseball player at all.

My first year in junior high school went so fast. In my second year, I played baseball but I still couldn’t play well. My life was the same as other students at the time. Nothing was special. In the middle of this year, we were supposed to go to a school trip. We planed the details for the trip for a few months earlier. One day we talked about the school events. We debated and found out what to do. Some students decided to do some mini games in the school bus. We had to take the bus all the way to Nikko which was country side and had a lot of animals. Because the drive was long that’s why some students started playing mini games. I wasn’t really interested in the mini games, so I wanted to choose to do something special. The class leader was looking for somebody to dance at the time. Without thinking I said “I can do it!” and my arm was up in the air. My curiosity and courage made me do dancing.

We had 5 members to do the dance event. One of the members, “Fujisan”(not the mountain) let us watch dance videos at his house. We watched some dance videos there. His video player was the loudest player I’ve ever seen. We stopped the video a lot , and tried to get some hints from it. After one week , we had to leave our homes , because we had to depart for the school trip.

At 5 am, we gathered and got in the bus. It took over 2 hours to get to the destination. We saw monkeys and some other animals before we got there. We went hiking and cooked outside. We were surrounded by nature , and had a lot of fun. Then it was about time to start the camp fire. That meant we had to get ready to dance because we were supposed to dance before starting the camp fire. I felt nervous and excited, but I didn’t have a lot of time to think about that. It was show time!

The music started suddenly .. We all thought we failed but it was our teacher’s mistake. We started again. I even got more nervous. Students around us were just quiet. The music started again! We started dancing. I had no time to think. My body seemed like it moved itself! We did acrobatics at the end! As I calmed down and saw the audience,
they were cheering and some of them were screaming!! We did it!! I had never seen this scene in my life! I had never felt this feeling before! I was so excited! It was the first and biggest success in my life at the time.

When the 3 days school trip was over, my ordinary school life started again. At this time, some students asked me if I wanted to belong to one of the biggest Japanese agents in Japan. I thought they were kidding or making fun of me, so I didn’t take it seriously. I still couldn’t forget the feeling that I felt on the stage. I didn’t know what it was, but after a while I realized something. My heart said to me “I want to learn how to dance!” so I tried to find put where to dance but at the time we didn’t have really good internet, and I didn’t know where to look to find it..

After a while, when my mother got home from an alumni, she told me her old friend was a choreographer. I decided to go to his studio! It was my first time to see a real studio and commute to Tokyo. I was living in Chiba which is next to Tokyo. I don’t know why but it was fun to walk with so many people in Tokyo. I felt this is really Tokyo! My double life had just started! I became a dancer while I was also playing baseball player. My life started getting crazy from this time on…

One day I was walking on the rail which was always there. Suddenly I realized I was getting more involved in the entertainment industry. One year ago I would never had imagined I would be here. Becoming an actor in Hollywood ?? No one had this idea at the time. My life started changing from here…

To be continued…

Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket [Archive 01] "My challenges in Hollywood Trail 1"

Hello everybody! I'm a newcomer to Enter-Jam(enterjam.com : Japanese media website) ! My name is Ryohei Watanabe.

Today, I will start my column "Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket to Hollywood"! Let me introduce myself first! ( My English isn't perfect but please don't give up on reading my column!!)

I'm an aspiring Japanese actor who is staying in Japan. I have no intent to become an actor in Japan because my biggest dream is to become one of the greatest actors in Hollywood. I have done some acting in Japan but it's not a big deal for Hollywood directors, so I'd like to start everything again in Hollywood! I named this column "Ryohei Watanabe's one way ticket to Hollywood" because I won't give up my dream and come back to Japan.

Until this April, I had been staying in LA for nine months. There were so many hardships on trying to be an actor in Hollywood but I realized how big my dream is and I think it's still worth trying. I came back to Japan to get ready to be an actor in Hollywood. Junk Hunter Yoshida (who is the chief editor) found me and now I can write my ideas here. I really appreciate him.
I want to prove that someone who had nothing like me can become a Hollywood star! I hope you feel something by reading my column or at least get to know my existance !
Today, I'd like to write little bit about my biography! Also I will update my challenges in Hollywood in the near future! Hope you'll like my column !!!

I have an older brother and a younger brother and I have 2 years difference in age with them. That means both of them could be my enemy lol.. I had no priority of doing anything because it's always the youngest one or the oldest one.. Then I started thinking "who I am ?", "What am I here for ?" . Sometimes I had a hard time spending time alone, but I also started thinking that I have more freedom than my other brothers have!

When I saw a Hollywood movie for the first time , I was in kindergarten. My father always watched Hollywood movies that came on TV. It was on every Friday the name was " Friday Foreign Movies Theater". My strict quiet father laughed loud when he watched these movies , so I thought these foreign movies meant something special. I didn't even know they were Hollywood movies at the time though I always got excited or scared by the strange movies. Well now a little bit about me , I was just a crybaby at the time.. I had no strong opinion and I didn't even know how to fight and how to talk back .. The things that excited me were going fishing and playing games and so on. I was a typical quiet type. Except for the time that I was fishing. I had a adventurous spirit when I went fishing. No one would expect that I will act in my future at that time anyway..

After a while , I entered elementary school. Most of my friends in the same kindergarten went to another school. My adventurous spirit started fading away.. I was just being shy and didn't do a lot..

My family members are my father, mother, older brother, younger brother, grand-mother and me. All of us were talking about getting a pet like a dog or a cat. We voted on one of them and we decided to get a dog. At this time we found an advertisement which was looking for a family to keep a puppy. We went there to find a new family member.There were alot of Japanese Shiba dogs. Only one of them didn't have his family and that was the dog I was holding. I named him "Pochi" which is the most common dog's name in Japan.

When I was in third grade, it became easy for me to catch Pochi after he had run away through the gate. Sometimes all of my family chased him with bicycles. One time he hit a car from the side and put a dent in a car .. He didn't get hurt though, but we had to pay 50000yen($500) for the dent lol.. In this year I went to Hawaii as my first foreign trip. It was so exciting !! In my brain , the symbol of America became big hamburgers.

When I was in fourth grade, I was getting into fishing more than before. At school, fishing was getting popular ! That was how I got out of the minority in my school lol I got a lot of new friends and my school life was getting more exciting! We really want to catch black basses. Once I even thought about going to Texas to go fishing. I was crazy about fish.

The next year, the boom of fishing was over. I wasn't interested in the entertainment industry still at all. I didn't even know any famous Japanese singers or groups.. One of my classmates always talked about the industry and he became my close friend. I started developing an interest for the entertainment industry naturally.

At the age of 12, I found something that I could really enjoy doing. It wasn't acting. It was actually playing soccer after school. We didn't belong to any activity club but we were doing soccer almost everyday. My spirit was getting stronger and I found out how exciting it was for me to play sports. I thought this is something that I want to do for my entire life ! I still didn't realize that this idea was still far from my hidden desire…

To be continued...

(Original date 20080703)