How I overcame my shyness and discovered the joy of standing in front of others through a '5-minute self-introduction'.

About three months have passed since lessons began at the acting school.

Today, I would like to talk about the time just before summer vacation.

1. Five-minute self-introduction

Before summer vacation started, the teacher made this announcement.

5 minutes on stage to appeal. For me, someone who felt like their heart would burst from nervousness even just reading aloud in Japanese class, this trial of doing a 5-minute appeal on stage had arrived.

Thinking 'I don't want to do this!', but knowing that resisting was pointless, I thought about what I could do.

2. What to appeal

The purpose of this was an appeal time that would lead to casting for a joint film production with the film course in the next lesson.

'I want to wipe away my weak self, so I'll appeal my strength!'

Thinking this, I decided to perform a bojutsu (staff technique) performance using a long staff, like Sun Wukong from the 'Saiyuki' TV drama that was airing at the time.

I bought a staff about 1.5m long at Don Quijote and made my own Ruyi Jingu Bang.

3. Practice begins

I practiced bojutsu in my neighborhood.

Spinning the staff around was surprisingly easy.
Spinning it fast took a little bit of skill.

Days of practice in the local park.

I was nervous about the police, thinking I must look like a suspicious person holding a long staff to passersby.

While playing Monkey Majik's 'Around the World' as background music, I finished the performance by spinning the staff upward and catching it.

The catch required skill, and at first it didn't go well, so I practiced many times.

4. Rehearsal

I performed the bojutsu I had practiced over summer vacation in front of the teacher and everyone.

While singing, dancing, and monologues were the main acts, the bojutsu had a big impact.

Everyone in the same class laughed and teased me, saying 'What's with the bojutsu?', but I was serious.

During the rehearsal, I failed the final staff catch, and the teacher told me it might be better to stop because it was dangerous, but I insisted I would do it.

I kept practicing until the day of the performance, but the probability of successfully catching it at the end was about 50%.

5. The performance

Finally, the day of the performance arrived.
The appeal time started in order, and my turn came.

I performed the bojutsu along with the music 'Let's Kung Fu' from the video above.

When it came to the actual performance, I wasn't nervous and actually had fun, and I succeeded in the final catch.

For someone like me who thought it was impossible to appeal in front of people, it was an experience that gave me some confidence.

6. Summary

Through the 5-minute self-introduction and the audition for an independent film, I gained confidence that I can deliver my best performance as long as I am prepared.

The acting course classes will continue, and we will move on to shooting short films.

I will continue the story next time.

Thank you for reading this far!