Gakusei Travels

ヲタ芸を頑張りましょう！

Today was the Kodaira Festival! Time to put all our hard work and practice to show!

I’m so exhausted after today, because I’ve been up so early to help get ready to prepare for the performance. I was up around 6 am this morning. The club president asked if a few of us would come to his place to help carry some of the light sticks to the school. I was like yeah sure I can help! But call time was 8:20am….he lived an hour away so I had to leave by 7:20am…which meant I had to be up at the crack of dawn. At least, since the sun rises early here it wasn’t dark when I left lol. I just chugged a bunch of coffee and pushed through it.

Once we got to the school, it was kind of exciting to see the campus transformed. There were way more people than usual, with several stands set up selling food, drinks, and other cool things. I didn’t get to walk around the shops right away, because our performance was at 11:40. We had to separate the colored light sticks we’d need for each song and we did a quick practice run. I performed in Ao no Sumika or Where Our Blue Is. If anyone likes anime, this song is the first opening to the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Funny story, but one practice a few of us were talking about the meaning of this song. I explained that the song has a different name in English, and I was wondering what the Japanese name meant. “Ao” in Japanese means “blue”. Why blue? Personally, I like purple, and red isn’t a bad color either lol. In Japanese, the word for youth is seishun written as “青春”. The first character means “blue” and the second is “spring”. Season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen focuses on Gojo Satoru’s youth, hence the “Ao” in “Ao no sumika.” But what does sumika mean? Well, the closest translation to sumika is “home”. So the title kind of means “where our home is during our youth” or that’s the best way I interpret it. I kinda like that meaning and song, because I’m doing my best to enjoy my own youth and make many memories.

There was your fun Japanese lesson for the day. Now back to the performance lol.

For Ao no Sumika, I needed a pair of orange lights and light blue. I’d start with the blue and put the orange in my pocket until the end. But during the second chorus I’d switch the lights. Just watch the video and you’ll see what I mean lol. The second song I was in was “Monster’s Flower Song.” I just needed one pair of lights, which was orange. For the other songs, it seemed really complicated. T-T. Some of the members had to switch colors many times such as white, yellow, blue, red, purple, green, pink…I think I probably would’ve messed up. In the end, it was so cool to watch.

My sorority sisters came to watch too! I was so happy they came along with some of the other exchange students, like Sam and Aicha. It’s really hard being away from home. Being an exchange student, you really don’t have the familial support during special moments like these like the other students do. I can of course show the videos to my mom, but you miss that physical presence. So I’m really grateful they came.

Up until showtime, we were handing out flyers. I was lowkey not wanting to do it at first. I was like “I don’t speak Japanese. What do I even say?” I eventually ended up with some cause some of the other girls were too intimidated to go up to people. Unlike the one guy wearing a chicken suit yelling about yakitori for sale. T^T. I just walked up to people and said ”おねがいします” Please. lol. If they took it, they took it. If not, fine, whatever.

I honestly was really excited for today. I don’t really think it registered right away how nervous I actually was. Not until I was on the stage. My hands were honestly shaking so bad, but I just tried to play it off. My biggest fear, and I had jokingly told this to Sienna right before the show, “I’m worried that when I hit the ground, the light won’t turn on.” What happens during the FIRST part of Ao no Sumika? The light in my right hand doesn’t turn on. I’m like bruh…

I don’t know why either, but the orange lights are just so much brighter than the others. You got every other color and then orange is just ILLUMINATION. I bet you could use one of these lights in a black out or something lol. But they’re all really pretty. I honestly want to buy my own, probably one with batteries, because these glow sticks are one and done and they kinda fade on their own after maybe 10 minutes. That’s why we never practiced with them on before, because it’d really be a waste. So, the actual performance was my first time turning them on, and I really underestimated how hard I had to hit the ground.

I tried my best not to let it distract me. I was already nervous. As they say in America, “the show must go on”. I also realized that I honestly went a little too fast at some parts. I think it was the nerves. I watched my friend in front of me to try to regain tempo and slow down. That’s why I’m lowkey glad I was in the back, so it hopefully wasn’t as noticeable. lol. There were some other hiccups throughout the show with lights not turning on or people bumping into each other, but the way I see it, the only ones who know how our performance should be is us. If we just play it off and keep going, then it won’t be a big deal. Truly, the important part was just to have fun, and I really did. I remembered my moves. I remembered my entrances. I did it. できた！

The performance honestly went by so fast. Even with the small MC intermissions from the club president and vice-president, we were honestly performing for only about 20 minutes max. By the end, we were all so hot and sweaty. I was dying. I was worried one of the guys was going to pass out, so I was trying to fan him. The portable hand fan I got was the best investment I made in Japan. I bring it every practice lol. He’s okay though. Once we all cooled down, we took some photos then got to explore the rest of the festival. Sadly, by the time I got to the Takoyaki stand, they were sold out *cries*.

I laugh seeing the group picture. I’m just the one foreigner in the group, but I appreciate and am thankful for everyone’s kindness and patience with me. I don’t always understand what is said (actually, more like 90% of the time I’m confused) nor do I know what we’re doing half the time. It’s frustrating for me, because sometimes it feels kinda lonely being the odd man out, but not once has anyone ever excluded me. We all do our best, and just have fun. I hope to make more memories with them before I go home, and in the case I can come back to Japan, we can continue to do wotagei together.

Please follow and support the club’s Instagram and Twitter. It would mean a lot for others to support the group that’s continued to support and motivate me during my time in Japan. The Club Handle Insta is @hitters1284wotagei. The Twitter is @hitwotagei06.