Hidemi’s Rambling No.503

The drama club to which I belonged when I was a junior high school student had two school plays a year, for the homecoming entertainment and for the welcoming new students party. The casting would be done by a seniority system. A handful of senior members appeared on the stage and other members worked backstage. New members usually started from the stage props staff, then were promoted to the scene shifter, the spotlighting, the curtain drawer/prompter, the stage lighting, and finally, the cast member. My fellow five new comers had quit within a year because they couldn’t take this slow promotion toward cast members, and I was the only one left among those who joined that year. Since there were so many members who were one year my senior, it seemed the day I would be cast in a play would never come in this seniority system. But once I begin something, I don’t quit easily. When the twice-a-year school play came near, I would work eagerly backstage while seeing some senior cast members whose acting was much worse than mine rehearse on the stage. I started as the stage props staff. The first play I took part in was a Japanese drama. Some cast members had trouble putting Japanese sandals very quickly when they stormed out of the room in one scene and complained to us. From then on I had stretched their sandals carefully before the scene for the cast members to put them on quickly. As the spotlighting, I learned to move a spotlight just as the cast member moved on stage and to keep the light above her chest all the time. Every once in a while in rehearsal, I made a mistake to follow the cast’s quick movement and my light missed the position slightly. In that case, the play would come to an instant halt and everyone turned to me. I would stand straight beside the spotlight and yell “I’m so sorry!” to the whole production. Dreaming of standing on stage someday, I resigned myself to working for drearily trivial things so hard in the total shadow of the glittering stage glamor…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.502

I was a member of the drama club at junior high school. There were almost 100 new comers when I first joined it in the seventh grade, but only six remained including me after a month because of sober training that was far from the stage glamor. We did voice and physical exercises every day to develop our abdominal muscles. In the end of the exercises, the members would stand side by side and utter a loud and long tone one by one in front of the club captain. While we were squeezing ‘Ahhhh’, a senior member would put a hand on our shoulder to see if it rose. If we were doing abdominal breathing, our shoulders didn’t rise. The club captain would time the length of the tone and check whether it wavered or not. A loud, long, steady voice was good and I was the one who always uttered the loudest, longest, steadiest ‘Ahhhh’ without raising my shoulders. While the club captain corrected each member, in my turn she would say “Nothing to be corrected” to me. That made me so happy and I practiced diligently back at home too, to hear her say that every time. Gradually, I had tougher training at the club such as tongue twisters, short dialogues and pantomime. For some reason, I was good at those and had a good word from the captain each time. I began to think I might have a talent for acting. Secretly I took pleasure in picturing myself on the stage of a school play. A sad fact was, I was a fat and short girl. Even with the ability to act well, things wouldn’t go so smoothly for an ugly girl like me in the theater. But back then, I was too young and innocent to realize that. I just kept on striving and improving only my acting without caring about my bad looks…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.501

Last year, I spent fairly much time pondering whether I live in Japan for the rest of my life or settle in US for my music career. I used to live in the States for music and returned to Japan temporarily. This temporary homecoming turned out to become much longer than I had expected and have lasted to this day because of rapid advances in computer technology and the Internet. It’s now possible to work for the US music market while living in Japan through the Internet. Songs and books are easily released and promoted. More new tools and gadgets could be introduced, so that physically staying in US could be unnecessary. Above all, life in this small town of Japan, which is secluded from the city by the mountains, is suitable for creative work. It’s so hustle-free that I deeply concentrate on my work. Since I moved in here, my working pace has been good and steady. I feel I have finally found a perfect environment to work on music. On the other hand, I’m always afraid of settling down. Anyone who stops would die. I would lose motivation for writing a song unless I move forward even by a small step. For this year, I decided to visit the States for the first time in years. I know its cost is a prodigious sum of money for me and it requires mountainous troublesome arrangements. I also know too well that after those efforts, what awaits me are an excruciatingly long flight, murderous jet lag, and countless unpleasant incidents. Still, I need to breathe in California air. My anxieties for money, health and the future never go away but I think I can manage as long as I stay positive and look ahead. My mind was made up…
Filed under Life | Tags: Childhood, Famil