Public Presentation in Japanese

The 6th of August was perhaps one of the freakiest days of my life. In Hiroshima, it was a day of remembrance for the atomic bomb victims. For me, it was the day of my public presentation in the Japanese language. The title of my presentation was Kimono (着物）. I was supposed to talk about what I thought about kimono, what it truly is from my understanding and how it differs from the Malaysian traditional costumes, why do the Japanese wear them, how many types of kimono are there and the statistics of them owning one and which one. It was a wide topic and definitely an interesting one. Each student was given 5 minutes on the podium and another 5 minutes for Q&A from the public on the topic. So it was a total of 10minutes nightmare on the stage. We have to answer the Q&A on the spot without assistance from the lecturer or friends...regardless of language skills at the point of time. Scary, scary...scary!!! The moment of truth really boiled down to this one day. It was a make or break situation as some people called it but I'd say that it was more of making ourselves a fool or be fooled by us....hahaha

The reason I wore a Batik instead of a suit, was because I was presenting about Kimono and how different it was as compared to our Malaysian traditional costumes. So, it was wise to wear one and show the Japanese too. Well, Batik was an obvious choice as it fits the bill of how Malaysian costumes are in a tropical country. Perhaps it is also easier for the Japanese to understand since they are right in the middle of summer.

My host family, the Nakata family, came in full support of me. I was really touched by their gestures. But that has also put some pressure on me to present well. The 10minutes felt like 10 hours and I was thrown many questions at the end of my presentation. I can't say I answered them all nicely but at least I felt that I did my best for the day and no repeat of questions were needed. It was a great achievement for everyone indeed, as it was only a 6-month training. In fact, many people could not believe we were only studying for 6 months. I don't know if that is a positive or a negative feedback....I'd like to see it positively...;)

As it was not a song performance, we obviously didn't get encores or a standing ovation. But we did receive lots of congratulations and well wishes as it was not only our final big task before we sit for the final exams, but also the last time we would meet our Japanese friends before we start a new chapter in Urasa...