Last June, I received an email from a Japanese woman asking if I was interested in appearing on a Japanese TV show. I remembered getting a similar email back in 2015, so I ignored it again because I thought it was a spam email. My email is public, it’s on the description of every YouTube video, and it’s on my website as well, so, unfortunately, I get a lot of spam mail. So yeah, a random email asking me to be on a Japanese TV show? Sure. Delete.
About a week later I got another email from the same woman following up on her previous message. I thought, usually, spam mailers don’t follow up so I replied her merely saying I wanted to know more about this show and if possible watch a sample episode. Her response was very helpful. The show is called Who Wants to Come to Japan? The reality style show’s premise is they choose foreigners who’ve never been to Japan but have a keen interested in a specific aspect of Japanese culture. They invite them to come to Japan and arrange for them to have a dream experience based on their particular interest. Through my YouTube videos and my website, they learned about my deep interest in Japanese Calligraphy, so they wanted to feature me on their show to make an episode about Shodo.
“Ok, sounds good,” I replied. “What do I need to do?” Audition.
After a phone interview, I needed to have a meeting, on camera, with the show’s director. This meeting would be the opening scene of the show. Within a few weeks, two gentlemen who’ve traveled from Japan arrived at my house with a translator from New York. The 10-hour shoot included me doing calligraphy on camera, answering questions, interviews with Rachel and the kids, and a bunch of b-roll from my studio. The next day, they came with me to Zenshinkan to film me teaching one of my basic calligraphy workshops. For this scene to happen, I asked some of my students who live nearby if they were interested in participating in this shoot and be on TV with me. Graciously about 8 of them said yes. The TV crew spent two hours filming and interviewing everybody. By the end of the second day, I was told they were going to take the footage, edit it, and present it to the producers of the show to make a decision.
On Friday, the translator from New York showed up on my door to tell me I was chosen to be a guest for the show. My reaction on camera was probably not what they expected. I am sure most people freak out and start jumping and screaming in excitement, which of course makes great TV. But I was just shocked and in total disbelief. The whole thing seemed just unreal, like either an awful joke or a terrible dream. These people were telling me that they were taking me to Japan for a week, all expenses covered, and give me a dream experience. I could not believe. I still can’t believe it.
It’s been a dream of mine to go to Japan ever since I stepped on an Aikido mat 23 years ago. Ever since I began to practice Shodo, that dream became even more meaningful. To be given the opportunity to travel to the birthplace of Shodo and experience first hand the culture and customs of Japan is a beautiful privilege.
Who would’ve thought that next week I’m boarding a plane to Japan because I uploaded a few videos on YouTube? It is a true testament of the snowball effect of life. Steve Jobs once said that one of the essential things about life is to realize you can influence it. Life is not just there for you to live it; it’s there for you to create it. He said, “…the minute that you understand you can poke life and actually when you push in something will pop out on the other side; you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing.”
I wish I could tell you more about where in Japan am I going and what I’m doing while I’m there but it sounds like some of that stuff is a secret because they want to surprise me. So, I will share with you all more as I go along. Of course, in the future expect lots of pictures on my Instagram, and videos on YouTube to share with you my experience.
So…yeah. I’m going to Japan! Whohoo. Amazing!