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So today is Sunday, August 18th, 2019. My name is Angela Hui and I am interviewing Charles-Louis Yoshiyama on the behalf of the Houston Asian American Archive, a project managed by the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University.

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Um so our first question is when and where were you born? Umm. August 29, 1989; that’s my birthday and I’ll be thirty soon, this month and I was

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born, I was born in Hamamatsu on the state called Shizuoka near the Mount Fuji. Umm, yeah and then I moved to Tokyo with my mom, I was in

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umm, place called Chiba, Urayasu, next to the Disneyland, I was, I grow up there until fifteen years old and yeah. I mean I moved there when I was two and since then I was, I was there.

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Yeah. So describe your family growing up. Who did you live with and who took care of you when you were a child? Um, basically my mom, but my mom had a job that, you know, requires to go to oversea, so my

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grandparents took care of me. My grandma, she often came, from wherever she wa--uh--wa--uh, my local town to, you know, in Tokyo area for, you know,

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just taking care of me for like, one week, two weeks however long. So yeah my grandparents and my mom was the yeah like, yeah real parents yeah. And what was your mother’s occupation?

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Mm, she works at the Goldman Sachs for long time, asset management, so it’s not like a a huge deal but she was one of the top, in Japanese office and, and she works at the Fidelity, she moved to Fidelity after

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Goldman and moved to J.P. Morgan and retired when she was 50. And so for how long would she be away on business trips when you were a child?

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Um, like two weeks, like one and a half weeks, yeah so, yea she was busy she was never, she was, she was at home at the same time after I had the ballet training starting at 7:30 and,

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like, goes on ‘til like 10 o’clock, that was yeah and we come back like basically the same time. We had a nanny, sort of, umm she didn't clean our house, but like she made dinner for us and and we and

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you know we give her, you know, gratitude money and, and, you know, she come and cook and then, you know I was growing up, like around when I was like, what twelve to thirteen that’s when I was getting that, food

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um, not food but got– gotten feeded she, she able to like cook for me before my ballet class and stuff and so I was, you know, I was, I was young boy and like, eating a lot. Um. So yeah that’s, that’s,

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that’s what I was yeah, yeah. Now, now we look back and it was crazy time for her as well like she was— And uhh she raised me by herself basically, ever since, you know, when I was baby, so yeah umm.

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And my father, I mean, they–they divorced when I was young, so like, I don’t remember much of father . So yeah. Um and your father was French, right? Mhm and do you know what his

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occupation was? Mm he used to work at the Swiss Air , I don’t know what he does anymore and he probably does another job, I’m not sure, so yeah.

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And so how often would your grandparents take care of you, would you say? Um, well like you know, sometimes during the summer break. Um I just, when I was young, I just go to my grandparent’s house, most of the time I spend time with my

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grandparents, or the um, my cousin, you know, my mother’s brothers and you know just. Because they took good care of me as well, so I was back home quite often when school was not running.

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And during the, you know, during the busy time, she goes over to like Chicago, from Japan to like you know Chicago, New York, LA, and like you know, London all sorts of locations and that was like, a week, two weeks and something else like that, that’s

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what I remember yeah. And did your grandparents live in Shizuoka or Tokyo? Mmhm uh… Shizuoka. And had your mother’s side of your family lived there for many

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generations? I believe so–, yes, yes, my grand-, my, my father was from there, um I’m sorry my grand– grandfather’s from there and then, my grandfather’s father was from there, but before that maybe it was Hiroshima. But that’s like, really long time ago .

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I think that’s what, that’s what I believe, I--We don’t do those like, you know those tests to like, you know, go back the generations and stuff. But yeah, my family has been grown all like,

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you know, been at the Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, that’s the city that yea, and since then yeah from since World War II, and like you know, cause you know my grandparents experienced those eras and, and

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yeah so he tells me, he told me about like you know those, you know, stories and back in a while and yeah, very interesting, you know, you know. So do you have any, you know, stories in particular about your grandparents, or great

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grandparents or earlier generations? Umm, yeah my, you know, it’s an interesting story like my, my mom gets like you know, those tickets fr– to see baseball and my grand, grandfather always

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loved to see it in in live and he always watches, he always follows the, the one team from Tokyo and then sometimes she gets, my mom gets the good tickets and then he comes over for, for a day and then, you know, to see the game and

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then he stays there in Tokyo for like a day or two and then go back, has that, had that some, sometimes, once a year, twice a year. Yeah and my–my grandparents are very, like such a good supporter and they think, they

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think me as a fourth kid ‘cause I’m, she, they have the two brothers and then my mother, she’s the first child, and umm. So and then they, they, they take care of me as like you know, fourth, fourth child

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And do you know what their occupations were, your grandparents? They so, my grandparents used to run the rice shop in Japan, but they they, they sold like, you know those things that you need for kitchen, like you know,

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the plate, and like you know, umm, bowl, or either like, you know, yeah of course rice, like you know, ingredients and like you know soy sauce or you know, such a, such of things they, they used to sell and then my

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grandparents used to go farm quite a lot to, you know, help the people out. And uh—but yeah my, my parents used--and in wintertime they have the stove in Japan, ba–back in the time, they

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didn’t have AC, so you know, the gas they delivered, my grandparents delivered the gas and, and so, during the wintertime, it’s comfortable for the, you know, for the one household and, they do, yeah,

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they, they used to have, my, my grandparents used to do that, you know, like heavy, and like you know big gallon of, of the gas and to the house, and then like, you know, fill it up and sorts of things.

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Yea that’s, that’s about it they are shot now, they are not running it anymore they, my grandparents is like you know, hitting 80s, like late 80, so yeah they are not doing that stuff anymore. Where they still running the store when you were growing up?

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Yeah, yeah yeah! When I was, when I was child they were running every— when I was, especially when I was like really young that I don’t even remember, that time it was busy. I was here. Yeah. So your mother was very accomplished in her career,

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what do you think motivated her to be... you know, career oriented? that’s a question I want to ask my mom she...

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so she left Japan, she didn’t go to like any big college or like you know, famous college or anything, she left to, she left Japan and then she went to Paris.

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She worked about three years, four years? I’m not exactly -entirely sure, yeah. But umm one of the Japanese bank was at the um, in Japan, but they were connected to Paribas, Paribas bank.

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And umm, yeah and then she, and then that, that location got shot, and—and then she went back to Japan with my, with my actual father, and uhh—and then I think, she started, she started working some other

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company, but I-- right after she started working with Goldman Sachs for quite a long time actually, yeah. Umm more than, more than definitely more than ten years. Umm, well, my mom always

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tell me like, you know, she was–, she wasn’t, she was making, you know, quite good money but like, you know to raise me and, you know, to get the—to able to like let him do like whatever I wanted to do and then you know, she let me, she let me do it, and then she was, she was very

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accomplished and then the, she, with the asset management she—not just by herself, but like with couple other businessmen or like you know, the CEO or whatever, whatever, they write down the asset

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management sort of like you know, a book, and, and—so she’s, she’s known, I mean she’s retired like you know, more than eight years ago now. Umm, but she used to go to Waseda

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University and like all the Kyo–, Kyoto University to teach those kids all like, you know, the recreational, like sort of um, orientation was set for her with you know, couple other, couple other people.

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So yeah she–she was she was very, I think she was very accomplished, but at the same time when my parents divorced, and then she was, at the same time, you know she was saving a lot of money and she was,

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money smart and it was very, you know, and, and it was good for her, and she always said she wanted to retire when she was fifty and just be done with it. And then she’s--right now she’s enjoying what she, what she’s doing

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right now, she’s ru—start running. She was she was never used to like doing any sports like go into gym and, but she like she’s, she does stuff, she does volunteer stuff and she’s back in Shizuoka.

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She built a house and then she’s living there, longer than anyone else, so she’s in Japan. And, I think she’s doing volunteer for the people coming into Hamamatsu

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and like able to like, sort of like guiding the places and like, you know, you should go to, these places, like, you know, castles, ‘cause we, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka has like quite of bunch of the castles and monuments, memorials and stuff and uh.

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So that’s what she does right now and she comes here quite often to see me dance at the Houston Ballet and that’s what she does the most, like she—since I joined Houston Ballet since 2007-8 umm, she’s been in and out of Houston and Japan

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for more than, it was thirty times. It was last time she came, which is in June, May-June. yeah, and so yeah-yeah she is supports great, and you know, she tell me, the, she couldn’t able to cook,

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she’s not a bad cook or anything she’s-she able to like cook stuff, but like, she’s b--she was just always busy. And I left Japan when I was fifteen, and she, she always tell me like, you know I’m cooking it for you a lot because I couldn’t do it

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when I was in— you know, when I was kid. So and then like and then she comes in, you know, cook the meal for me and see the performances and like, it’s, it’s good, y-you know we fight a lot, but like we have good

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relationship. Sometimes I depend on her too much, but, you know, she can’t let me go. It’s like you know, ‘cause I left when I was very young, but yeah, she’s, she’s, she’s been great supporter of me.

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Do you know if it was common in the eighties and nineties for women in Japan to have careers in finance? I’m not entirely sure, but no— I’m not exactly-- sorry I’m not entirely sure, sorry.

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So you grow up in Tokyo, were you in like a very downtown area? Was it urban? Suburban? Um, that area was the, the first fishing port, like back in the day, they couldn’t able to get a lot of

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a lot of fish and then they—that river actually, goes into the Arakawa and goes into Tsukiji, which is the big fish market, so like you know, a lot of ship goes in through. And the city wanted to make it big, so

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where I used to live was like man-made island area, very close to the oceans and, and also Tokyo Disneyland, that’s also the man-made island area and, it’s very close to Tokyo, that’s why she—she

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wasn’t, we weren’t inside of the Tokyo, just like right outside of Tokyo, and it’s a place called Chiba, and very easy access to where she was working, so like, and I--we stayed at, since you

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know when I was two to three and then until I leave Japan to England. That’s—until then, I grow up there, and I have great memory there, yeah.

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So what are some of your favorite memories of your childhood, outside Tokyo? Umm, well, you know, Tokyo is happen, happens, a lot of things happens like, you know, when I was so—um you know I have—I have, you know, I stayed

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at the one school and moved to Junior High and then you know stayed at same school for like, you know all nine years, and I--I have still have a great friends there and that’s—that’s—that’s the best thing I still got, and um.

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And, you know, I able to see, you know, I was, when I was started very interested in–in dancing more than anything else. I able to see those famous ballet companies comes in from

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Paris, Moscow, and like other, London, New York, umm. So I able to see like, you know, catch those a great company when I was young, and I was—and you can’t get that much if you outside of Tokyo, and yeah

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and, and Tokyo, Tokyo is a great city and you know I just--it’s, it’s my home and it’s—I always think it’s, it’s—that’s the home and you know. What kind of school did you go to?

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Umm. Like a school . Not Catholic or anything, you know, it’s just. Um, really nice school, and elementary school was--is six years and junior high is three years and that’s sort of like must educate, educated in Japanese law .

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And then I graduated and then, went to, went to England, but the Junior High was interesting ‘cause I’m half Japanese and French and then there were a lot of, mixed um,

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blood in there? America of course and like, you know, European country or sharings and um. It was interesting because I--I guess it’s like really diverse, like you know pop--like upcoming

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city, so a lot of people start moving into around that area, so we had—I–I mean still have a one good friends he’s half Japanese and half American and, yeah it—it—it was—it’s interesting, you don’t see that

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much often in--at that time of you know, in–in Tokyo, or you know ‘cause, yeah, it’s just the, you know the businesses and such and it goes like that. And so what was it like overall growing up, like biracial or mixed race,

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when you were a child? Umm, we um, I don’t know actually, umm well I mean, it was interesting, ‘cause you know, when we--we have umm, we have like

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parent’s day and something like that, I’m—I’m not sure what it’s called in English to be honest. Ummm but, you know, they, they come and see that person’s parents and which side is which and then it’s—but we didn’t have any—we

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didn’t have really great um, relationship—well I mean, everybody speaks Japanese and then, you know, we, we study by, you know, with, you know, Japanese .

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We didn’t have--and, one—. We had about three, disoriented--not disoriented, somebody was in the wheel–wheelchair, somebody had a trouble with the, help me out, umm,

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disabled, um student boy in our grade, same grade. I had a different class for, you know, three years, but the--we had those, we had those,

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you know, three people, growing up together, so like, you know, we, you know, we had—we had a rough time, we had also a very good time as well, because, you know, we able to like, care—take care of,

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you know, those people, you know if you see it, like, you know, I was like growing up like you’ll see--I’ll see those people on train or like, you know, if—it seems like they needed help and I—it’s.

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It was like very automatic things that I do to like, you know, help because I like I grow up with those people and that was our thing, to like help those, help those people out, and uh.

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We, we--th–th–that’s a great, you know, learning--oh no, no that’s, it was a good... I’m glad that we had someone like that, to growing up with umm, to see like, you

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know, just, you know; I know we, we grow up, and then so we know what they are not capable of and, and. So yeah, I think it was great education that we--I got in Japan I think .

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So was that your school in particular that had a program for disabled students? No actually, we just had—happened to have, you know, in the same class, ‘cause you know, I’ll--the below my grade or high in my grade, they

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didn’t have any. We just--yeah, our, our, our grade or our year was just had three of them , and um, and I think it’s, it’s very good and, to like educated by something that, you know, something extra.

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Umm to help out the you know economy and all like, you know, yeah. So you don’t feel like you were ever treated differently for being biracial? Oh no, I mean in Japan it’s, is—it’s a surprisingly

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and, but I mean, yeah, I mean we, we of course we had like, you know, some jokes and stuff, you know, but like, at that--at that time we didn’t have umm. Uh yeah, I don’t think we had any like serious issues.

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You know and like, you know, umm, some people say it’s like oh yeah, you have like–like a little bit a bigger nose like my friends like, you know, it’s--or like it’s--it wasn’t like getting into like bullying or anything like that.

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And it was pretty common? It was very common, and then like-- and then but like—and then they know, like I--like we--like half-blooded type, like you know, like half French, half American. People knew that they had

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jealous about it that’s all, you know. It was just like, you know, just because, you know, Japanese people doesn’t have like, you know, you know, big eye, or you know something like, you know--it wasn’t--and we didn’t have any issue with it at all, and I don’t

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think—yeah nobody had harmed by or anything. Yeah, I mean pe--I mean ev--and just because we had a lot of student like that, so like, you know, it wasn’t one person in a whole grade or like say one year, it’s

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not just one person, so like you know, it was never umm. Never been like, you know, something, or I never experienced anything like, you know, being hurt by, you know, a different blood, but yeah.

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Yeah. We didn’t—we didn’t have— but yeah, the school had uh, they didn’t have a bully much, but like those were--like some students were didn’t come to, you know, didn’t fit in and yeah, I mean it’s the usual school issue, but it’s--that was about it yeah.

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And do you feel like you were ever treated differently for having a single mother or was that also relatively common? Um, you know, sometimes I, I wish that I have a father, but umm, I think my mom did well, I guess.

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Umm, I mean, I was busy with, going in and out the studio, ballet studio when I was young, and umm. Yeah, but at the same time, my mom was, you know, home late, umm, you know, busy at the work.

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Sometimes I would just slack around and just didn’t do homework and stuff, so like nobody--like nobody was like, you know, “you gotta do your homework or you get bad grade.” Umm it was--I didn’t

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have that sort of--but I was doing a lot of like, you know, those things that I want to become, I was focused on more than studying, yeah. Yeah, did you travel often to other cities or countries when you were still

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growing up? Yeah! I went to Malaysia--Penang Island, quite a lot. That was my mom’s, favorite location. We went there several times.

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Umm, yeah, my mom took me quite a lot of places, you know, when she had-- when I was like, you know, summer break, or like, winter break, spring break. Um, when she had, when she had the chance to take me she took me–me to couple, like

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business trips and stuff. Um, so yeah, I was--I was able to like become a like, able to travel around with my--with my mom, and like, you know, all the holiday and stuff.

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It was good, yeah. Yeah. Do you think there are any uniquely Japanese cultural traditions that you practiced when you were growing up? I played—uh no um, I did a judo a little bit.

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Soccer? Not really, it’s not really childish at all. But I have experienced many, Zazen means, like you know, sort of like a meditation and, and uh, umm. Yea so

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it, it calms me down. That’s when I’m--when I start growing up after 20 year, after 25 I used--I used to do it more often. Traditionally, it’s not--umm, like you know, making like, you know, bowls and like, you know, and those are not quite traditional.

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Umm, beautiful though, I, I, like those; I like doing the pottery and stuff in Japan. Mm, I only get to go back, like one a year, twice a year, if I’m if I’m lucky

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and. So yeah, and then my life’s been outside of Japan for like half--almost half my years, so like I do what I can to do to, like experience a lot, but like I am not in there const--like more than a month so, you

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know, I only get like four weeks off, if I’m lucky five weeks so, yeah. Were you raised with any sort of religion? Um, not really, but I--I like to go to church, there are old temple in in Japan, I

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love to go into church in, in London, Westminster area, you know the, the one big church that, you know, the Prince Diana and them they got married. And I love going to places like that, you know,

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I’m able to go to Paris quite, quite some time with my mom because she, she loves going back there to see her friends and stuff. Yeah, I love going there, so I don’t—I’m in like one religion, like I, yeah .

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I’m very–very open-minded I believe in like every, not every, but like, you know, lots of religions and I respect it in like every sort of way.

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And yeah. Do you know what religious traditions were common among the people you knew growing up? You know, in Japan, they didn’t really have much like, a care of, a lot of Buddhists, I think. But umm, ...

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no, not so much in Japan, that’s the thing, it's—yeah and then, we went Christian school, so like, you know. The student were—I don’t—I didn’t know, I don’t know anything

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about it and we didn’t, I didn’t care about much at the same time, you know, when I was young too. And you, you, you know when I went to England, yeah of course there is a lot of Christians, but also, this, you

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know, there were Italian people, Russian people, Balug, and American, so it was—of the—of my, um school in—it’s a ballet school in in England. We had, yeah we had Jewish people and,

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Christians of course, and yeah um. See like that’s, I’ve never really gone to like, you know, church on Sunday. Until I came to United States and my ex-girlfriend was, you know, Christian and she was--she

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wanted me to take, go to church, you know, once in awhile, and uh. And then I, I, I tagged along and, you know, it’s, it’s peaceful, so like I--and yeah. Yeah, I love--I love doing that sometimes.

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And, yeah. And it’s, to be in that place it’s like, you know, it calms me down, it’s--I can forget about, I don’t know, everything. It’s—it’s nice, yeah.

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Are there any traditions or foods that remind you of home? Mmm. I love Japanese food, just, in general, I think I umm, I love--I love cooking for myself, and--

00:30:18.600 - 00:30:34.960

but hmm.. What would it be? What would they be? Like sushi, yeah. But like, you know home, home food from Japan are probably the best, you know, like I go, I able to go

00:30:35.490 - 00:30:49.420

to see my grandparents and they could go for a meal, and uh... I don’t know, I mean I love ramen, so like you just put ramen on it. But the, sushi is yeah, yeah, it’s great

00:30:51.170 - 00:31:04.860

I—We had an awesome time, in in Japan last, I mean this summer. We just came back couple weeks ago and started working, but I was there for four months; I’m sorry, four weeks, and yeah and I had a great time.

00:31:05.870 - 00:31:20.600

Yeah. When you were growing up, what was your favorite subject in school? So before you went to Ballet School? Mm... PE some PT--what is it, what you call it? you know, the outside physical--yeah, yeah--exercises and stuff.

00:31:22.090 - 00:31:36.310

Yeah, just because I was--I played soccer, I played you, you know, I--I was dancing, you know, as well. So like, I always wanted to be outside no stuck in a one chair for like four whole hours you know,

00:31:38.340 - 00:31:52.420

so--Oh, I did, I did like history a lot, yeah, to um--especially the world history, of course Japan as well. I’m more interested in that side now, but world history.

00:31:52.620 - 00:32:03.990

And then also, I--I love like studying about like, you know um, um, planets and like, you know, the space. And I have great interest to it.

00:32:03.990 - 00:32:14.780

So like that--you know, it’s perfect, for instance, NASA is here and . Yeah, I’ve been--I took like many people, I took--I went there by myself, I’ve done the tours so many times .

00:32:15.510 - 00:32:31.350

But yeah, like learning and like, you know, keeping in touch with those, like--I still do, you know, like, you know, read the news, and like, you know, all the new stuff that was found or you know, that was--that was my favorite and uh, oh, I hated math yeah.

00:32:31.410 - 00:32:49.300

And did you study English when you were in Japan? Yeah, well, in Japan--not anymore though--but, Japan didn’t teach English, um, soon enough? Like it’s, it was like we started at 12, especially at my school.

00:32:49.360 - 00:33:06.080

And then now, it’s like we--they start like nine years old or something. Quite difference is there, umm. But they didn’t– they couldn’t really teach you so well, and, and--interesting story I had,

00:33:06.580 - 00:33:22.220

you know, my mom was at the Goldman Sachs, she was at the Roppongi area, which is like there’s lots of bars there and like, you know, clubs there. I didn’t go there but like I, I--my mom started planning because

00:33:22.670 - 00:33:41.620

I got the, you know, I got the--not the contract, but like I got the I, I got accepted by English National Ballet School, which is, I, I went there. But like, six months ago, nine month ago, my mom had an idea

00:33:42.010 - 00:33:59.780

to bring like--bring myself to Roppongi, like every Monday night or something, I can’t remember which date, and--and those--a British guy, umm, would able to, you know, sort of like you know, spend time with him,

00:34:00.370 - 00:34:13.680

so I get more used to having a conversation one on one rather than, you know, learning letters or like, you know, learning vocabulary and stuff. And which, of course that’s most important thing,

00:34:15.590 - 00:34:31.350

but having a conversation and then getting used to those cockney accents. Cause I--we learned American English in Japan, so, and that was a huge difference for my ear, you know,

00:34:32.550 - 00:34:52.580

cause they do have such a, you know, a thick accent, and didn’t know what that means for, you know, when I moved there, so like I was, you know, not–not culture shock, but like, I studied English enough, but like, it wasn’t there. But like, it helped--that person helped

00:34:52.600 - 00:35:05.450

me to like spend time with me for like, you know, couple nights, and like, you know, we went out to play pool, and went in his house to spend time with him, having dinner, and um--I thought I thought that it

00:35:05.450 - 00:35:21.180

was, that was great, you know, ‘cause I don’t know when it is to be going over there without ever to like speak English, and like... Yeah and then yeah England was first--at first it was rough like, you know,

00:35:21.360 - 00:35:38.280

to understand people. Eventually I got used to it, yeah, able to graduate in, in 2007. Yeah. Before you decided to do Ballet, did you have any different career aspirations, or did your family have any expectations for you?

00:35:38.280 - 00:35:50.700

Expectations? My mom was ballet. You need to become a ballet dancer. I wanted to be, you know, footballer, but in Japan, the football was very popular sports for the

00:35:51.200 - 00:36:05.510

kids for--at that time ‘cause we just had a world cup in Japan, so the comp--it was like big competition there, you know, to become a professional footballer.

00:36:06.180 - 00:36:25.180

And my mom just didn’t want me to get hurt, and--or um... So--and she didn’t want me to see, you know, playing and like, not become a professional, but ballet, the male

00:36:27.270 - 00:36:48.780

cap– not capacity– we didn’t– the ballet is like meant for girls, but of course, you know, the ballet--the male dancer is there as well, and uh--she wanted--she wanted to--by her, umm, decision, like sort of, I stopped

00:36:49.180 - 00:37:03.530

for soccer when I was like, twelve, like, you know, and my mom--my mom told me to like, if you, if you quit soccer, I will--I will let you go to like summer school in, you know, in United States.

00:37:03.530 - 00:37:21.100

I actually went there in Boston, Walnuts Hill; it’s like art school. Um, I went there, and of course I we--went I was able to go to England and stuff, She, she, she gave--she told me that she will give 100% support if you choose

00:37:21.100 - 00:37:34.030

ballet so like I didn’t have any chance, like, she was like, if you choose soccer, I don’t know what to do. Like, there is nothing coming out from my pocket. I was like, God. Um, so ye–yeah, it was--I

00:37:34.080 - 00:37:51.230

was forced, I would say. Umm.... Yeah, I wanted to--I wanted to be--become a footballer, but yeah. And then--And then I--and I--and then around that time, you know, I stopped soccer and then I

00:37:51.270 - 00:38:07.220

start putting more focus on ballet, and then I start, like finally start, liking dancing and wanted to become better and better. Um... Yeah. So it—it—it was a good--when I—I went to Boston,

00:38:10.080 - 00:38:23.660

Walnut Hills, when I was twelve, just before I turned 13. Um, great, great school and great time I–I’m able to spend there. I wish I had gone there for, you know, getting degrees and like, you know, actually

00:38:23.720 - 00:38:39.100

like getting into--I should’ve—umm I should’ve, I should have done that, maybe. But--because England was quite rough for me, so I’m going to like different direction now, but England was quite rough for me to

00:38:39.480 - 00:38:49.590

live. Just so much distraction going on, um. Weather wasn’t suitable for me. I got really depressed in the wintertime.

00:38:51.280 - 00:39:02.740

You don’t see the sun, and uh. And I moved to Houston and it’s all fine now, being here more than twelve years now. So yeah, it’s, it’s been affected by weather quite, quite a lot.

00:39:02.780 - 00:39:16.670

We’ll get to that part, but first just to go chronologically. Sorry . Yeah, no problem. When did you start taking ballet lessons? Mhm. When I was 5. Yeah, my mom took me to the,

00:39:18.950 - 00:39:30.340

my mom took me to the ballet studio in my local town. I just started playing soccer and I did not wanted to do anything to do with, you know, ballet

00:39:30.340 - 00:39:43.720

at the same--at, at the first because I—I opened the studio like, you know, the same age as mine, wearing pink leotard and like, you know, tights, and little tiny skirt. And I was like--and I didn’t see any guys.

00:39:44.010 - 00:40:03.600

So I was like, Mom, I don’t think I want to do this. And then, and then she took me to the, sort of like, presentation from the school, like, you know, they had the performance, before Christmas.

00:40:04.550 - 00:40:23.010

And I saw one of the guy, one of the student, dancing. Male, male dancer was dancing and I, I, I saw something very sparkling and I—I told my mom I wanted to be like him and that was the--that was the

00:40:23.790 - 00:40:35.230

um, trigger and then I started dancing, yeah. And then what age was that? Five Oh that’s at five. And was there a particular reason your mother wanted you to study

00:40:35.300 - 00:40:47.900

ballet? Had she been exposed to ballet? She was never a dancer. She wanted to become a dancer at one point, that she always told me. Um, but she— So she had

00:40:48.280 - 00:41:04.970

a--she had a friend that was about to like, you know burst out, you know, pretty close, and so— and then they knew that, they knew the sex at that time, and then what are you gonna do to your daughter? What are you gonna, you

00:41:05.700 - 00:41:18.520

know, you know, make--make her become or like, you know, how you gonna, how you gonna do different things other than like studying? And she said that

00:41:19.040 - 00:41:36.520

my mother’s friend said my daughter--I will let my daughter do ballet. And my mom said she want me to be--me to become like a kabuki player. But the kabuki player is, they have those, generations.

00:41:38.650 - 00:41:56.300

So your father or, you know, your wife needs to be become like--needs to be like a very famous actor. But not just him, like your--his father’s father, like your grandparents and like those generation needs to be like a

00:41:57.790 - 00:42:11.740

famous kabuki player. So, like there is no way your son going to be you know, half French and, you know it’s--there’s no, no way that I’m going to become a kabuki player. And then--and then she was like ok, well then, I’ll, I’ll let my do--son ballet, that

00:42:12.010 - 00:42:24.480

was the— I saw this to like every interview, but just because it’s just, you know, it just doesn’t make sense. But she’s already decided like, you know, I’m going to make my son a ballet dancer as well.

00:42:24.770 - 00:42:40.140

And then that’s--that was the, the started of her, you know, mindset or whatever, yeah . And when you were still in Japan, how many hours a week did you spend doing ballet? Honestly, like six days a week?

00:42:40.710 - 00:42:51.720

Five days, six days a week? Umm. Depends on the day, we usually started like seven o’clock to like ten o’clock, sort of. And by Sunday we get--we don’t have school

00:42:51.720 - 00:43:05.300

sometimes, so it’s like, you know, sometime even Sunday. But yeah, I was lazy student, like I skipped sometimes and I did not wanted to be--and before I really wanted to become a ballet dancer.

00:43:06.370 - 00:43:18.690

Like even after that I was lazy yeah. And—Yeah, yeah, yeah. And did you have any friends or classmates that also did ballet?

00:43:18.690 - 00:43:36.020

Not from my same age, but older and younger ones, yes. But not much male dancer, so I was--I was the--at that one point, I was the only one. And, you know, the student comes in, and the couple male

00:43:36.430 - 00:43:50.530

dancer other student, you know, started training and, yeah. Yeah so you mentioned going to Walnut Hill school in Boston over the summer when you were twelve .

00:43:50.730 - 00:44:06.470

What made you choose that program? That’s the exactly the same guy that who, who, dec--made um--decide, decided, decided me? No like I wa--I saw the guy who in, I wanted to become like him,

00:44:07.040 - 00:44:24.160

and then he actually went to the, to the Walnut Hill School and then after he graduated, he went to San Francisco, ballet, Ballet School as well. Um, so yeah, and the I heard really good thing about the school and the

00:44:24.760 - 00:44:39.720

summer school is, you know, awesome and then it was like six weeks rent, I’ve never done anything like it. That was the, yeah, and then--yeah, it’s a summer school, so, you know, I wasn’t, I wasn’t able to speak

00:44:40.180 - 00:44:54.710

English at all, like zero. And it was a good experience, it was, you know, something unusual . Um, but yeah, some--but not like, you know, a very professional ballet company summer school, nothing

00:44:54.790 - 00:45:09.290

like that, but it was like art school, really far off from the, you know. And it was nice space ad I really enjoyed that one, yeah. Glad I, glad I did that one. Mmhm. And had you been to the United States before?

00:45:10.820 - 00:45:26.270

Before--possibly--Yes. I probably went to Hawaii before that and, maybe New York once? And like LA or Miami, or which ever, because of my mother’s business trip and um, but nothing like, staying there

00:45:26.270 - 00:45:43.630

for like, to like, attend the school or anything like that, just, you know trip, that’s it yeah. Mmhm. How did you communicate with people if you didn’t speak English? Umm sign language, I have a little, you know, book, and I have

00:45:43.740 - 00:45:57.560

one of those--the digital dictionary and stuff, and umm, I, like I type in in Japanese and like show it to him or like find it and then just--well I, I did what I can, and that also,

00:45:59.070 - 00:46:13.190

you know, it was a good decision, but I little people who speaks little bit of better English from Japan, so like, you know, I sometimes I, like you know, I, I ask them to like translate

00:46:13.830 - 00:46:31.860

. At the same time, I--you know, and then I--when we was started the, the summer school when I was, I was, you know, at that, at that age, and then I was quite good, good dancer, so like you know, the people are more interested towards me, so

00:46:31.860 - 00:46:44.060

like you know people wanted to learn Japanese to have a conversation with me, with me and then it was just, it just, it was just a lot of fun, you know. My mom, my mom was like, thought that was just hilarious and

00:46:45.040 - 00:47:00.160

but yeah, we had a good, we had a good time over there, and then I, and I did--couple dancers that I met in Houston, since then, so after seven years, eight years and I, you know, reunion of Houston and you

00:47:00.190 - 00:47:15.900

know couple different locations and stuff. Yeah but, we tried to communicate quite a lot. I know I tried to spend time with, you know, you know, the people from here, and um, um.

00:47:15.900 - 00:47:27.150

But it was, it was you know, only six weeks, and then I wish, like, like I said earlier, I wish I stayed there, and you know. It was it was great experience, that’s, that’s for sure.

00:47:28.170 - 00:47:40.790

Yeah. And did you go by yourself? Or was your mom-- My mom took me, yeah, yeah, with a business trip, like she, she made a business trip to go to New York and like you know, was there for maybe a couple days and then I went to

00:47:41.820 - 00:47:53.490

Boston then, my mom took me, and then it was a dorm stay so like she, she left back to New York and also went back to Japan and, and at the end of the

00:47:54.610 - 00:48:10.440

summer intensive they had the performances, and my mom came back and then saw, and then saw the performance and took me back. Mmhm. And there were other Japanese students, were there students

00:48:11.020 - 00:48:23.870

from other countries too? Yeah, umm, I believe so. Not, not, not so much, it wasn’t that international it was a lot of student from the school, umm, around, you

00:48:24.600 - 00:48:39.010

know, New York and the--umm. It was a lot of student actually, and they, they, they had those like, you know, groups, and like, you know, age groups, and like you know, those you know, you know, yeah.

00:48:39.010 - 00:48:59.370

It’s big, it’s big. Big place, yeah. And at the time was it already obvious that you had like, professional potential? And at that time, and then like yeah, so like people recognize me and I’m, I’m a good dancer and I wanted to become more better and better and, um.

00:49:00.210 - 00:49:14.650

But like, I mean, I mean, not, not to mean to brag so like, you know, it’s--it was a good--it made me a confident a little bit, so like it, it’s, it was good, and like see what what’s outside from Japan and ‘cause we

00:49:15.220 - 00:49:30.310

island and we don’t know anything about how they train and stuff and then, it was a good, good experience to like, you know, see what--how, how they dance and then like, you know, you know, they, they also have a singing programs and

00:49:30.990 - 00:49:46.610

then, you know, jazz, and then also-- Oh, that’s just the clock. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, like they also had a, like a painting program, so like a um...

00:49:47.260 - 00:50:04.500

I thin--I’m not sure, this I didn’t see and that’s the thing, I couldn’t communicate so much that I didn’t--I didn’t know where the student was from here or either from, you know, either from somewhere

00:50:04.590 - 00:50:19.290

else. But yeah. Yeah that’s all, sorry . Did you feel like you got more recognition in Boston than you did in Japan, for your like abilities? In in in different ways, maybe.

00:50:19.500 - 00:50:38.130

In different ways. I did couple like competition in Japan. I didn’t make it anywhere far, and, and then like, you know, sometimes I let down myself, but like I able to, like,

00:50:38.690 - 00:50:56.890

go outside of Japan and I--and I see around and, and I able to experience like different things. And, and I find it now, like what will I need to work on or what what’s going to be ahead of me and

00:50:56.980 - 00:51:14.070

then I was more interested into the, you know, it was like, this change, like, you know, mindset changed when I went to Boston and, so I think that’s that was very, very important things that I done at that age, for sure, yeah,

00:51:15.230 - 00:51:30.860

yeah. ‘Cause I was going to like same studio in Japan so like it--I didn’t--and it’s not like I was going to like different studio and see, like, you know, interaction with other male dancers or anything, not much like that, so--and it was like a big--like a huge, huge

00:51:30.960 - 00:51:43.060

school. A lot of student though. But it was nothing like that. Yeah. So it was--yeah, and then like of course, England, England as well, and

00:51:43.270 - 00:52:02.750

um, able to study something from, from Europe, and then like, it was, it was useful. Like time of my life, yeah. Did you notice any differences in teaching style between

00:52:03.750 - 00:52:18.830

Japan and— Yeah, yeah. Japan is mostly Vaganova style, it’s like um, um Russian Ballet Technique, like Vaganova, and in England, had the

00:52:21.080 - 00:52:39.640

dance curriculum for--it’s called the Royal--RAD--Royal Academy of Dance They have completely different like, you know, style--not, not completely different style, it’s just like a, a prop--a more proper way of

00:52:40.730 - 00:52:53.720

dancing. I would--I would take that as--that’s the sort of of the way of British people and being trained, and the for it. And I have those

00:52:53.720 - 00:53:09.480

two--Vaganova and RAD--um, sort of, and that’s sort of a good mix and like, you know, I, you know, and all my life I’ve been trying find out how can I dance better, so yeah.

00:53:09.530 - 00:53:21.360

I mean, I have those knowledge-- those two knowledge of techniques, so it’s, it’s very helpful. Um, that’s--that was the thing that I moved to England and I felt it, a lot.

00:53:23.970 - 00:53:39.300

In America there’s not much of, of it, and also I was, I was, you know, when I moved to Houston, joined Houston Ballet, too, which is like the second company of Houston Ballet, and I moved up to company after that year, so I didn’t have much like,

00:53:41.040 - 00:53:57.750

the technique that I was learned from, in Houston. But which a--which I was lucky I was able to like, mix, mix those, you know, two techniques around which is--it was very helpful for me to like get--move up to the company and stuff

00:53:57.770 - 00:54:13.190

at the--yeah. Mmhm. How about at Walnut Hills, was there a particular style there? Not much I don’t remember, that’s the thing I was just, I was just enjoying, enjoy this-- the time over there How did you get the opportunity

00:54:14.140 - 00:54:32.010

to go to the English National Ballet School? Well, I wanted to go to some national company that, that countries support, and getting into like, you know, good company and, you know, that way I--you need to go to a

00:54:33.060 - 00:54:49.700

good school. It’s like isn’t it, it’s like, England-well that’s why I wanted to like, audition Royal Ballet, which is the, well one of the, most famous school in in in the world,

00:54:50.480 - 00:55:06.480

and I wanted to join there, but, unfortunately I couldn’t. The timing wasn’t right, and I wasn’t able to get accepted from that school. And English National Ballet School, which is located in London, and the teacher were

00:55:06.900 - 00:55:26.810

former Royal Ballet Principal Dancers, and and I–I, one of the, one of the guy who used to dress, who used to work for the Royal Ballet’s Wardrobe, who used to dress Rudolf Nureyev and--I don’t know if you see The White Crow the

00:55:26.810 - 00:55:43.940

movie came out like, you know, a couple months ago, it’s his, like it’s a--he’s one of the legendary male dancer in in the history. And then he had a connection with a Japanese company, that wardrobe guy.

00:55:44.800 - 00:56:01.740

Um, and then I able to meet with that guy and send a video to us, and then, you know, for the spring course that they had, like two weeks, three weeks long, of, um, um, of the,

00:56:03.120 - 00:56:19.200

sort of like, like summer intensive, but it’s in spring. I, I got accepted to that, and after that, they gave me uh, um, um, actually I--they accepted me to the school, but I

00:56:19.200 - 00:56:35.930

wanted to finish the school in Japan, the junior high school, so I, I asked them to join like the year after and, able to finish whatever I needed to do in Japan, and I, I flew to London, yeah.

00:56:36.200 - 00:56:49.860

That’s, and that’s, that’s the connection that I got, which is great and, you know, you, you can’t get that some often, and you know, some scholarship goes away from, you know, if you do some competition, if you

00:56:49.930 - 00:57:02.460

win something, but I didn’t win anything, so I was nobody, and um, um and I was lucky to like get accepted and then spend two and a half years. Um, I didn’t have a scholarship.

00:57:03.370 - 00:57:14.630

Very, at that time, it was like almost three pounds for a dollar, so, the financially wasn’t, it wasn’t great. But--so my mom asked

00:57:15.110 - 00:57:35.640

me, me to like let’s do this Japanese government sort of studying program or--and then, and then those Japanese government or handout those scholarships wherever you, wherever you’re going to. And I got selected, very lucky, and

00:57:37.000 - 00:57:51.240

I had a who– like a one year of scholarship. Um, for English National Ballet School. And, I left, I graduated in 2007 June--June, July.

00:57:51.240 - 00:58:06.920

Yeah, that time. And how were you sure, at age fifteen that you wanted to pursue ballet professionally, and at that time, did you ever have any doubt about that path? Um, yeah.

00:58:06.920 - 00:58:22.380

Yeah. You know, I started going to the school days the--so after--may--so after maybe like six months there was a video audition for getting entered for– to the one of the prestige

00:58:26.180 - 00:58:40.570

prix, the grand prix. Um, like, you know, the competition. And I... that--we—that--had about--we had about like three or four student did it, me, including myself.

00:58:43.990 - 00:58:58.700

They um--all the three people got accept–accepted, but me . And then I was like, I was sixteen years old and I, I was depressed. I was, you know, not

00:58:58.700 - 00:59:15.390

shocked, but like I was, I was very frustrated. I getting upset, and and like maybe like two days or three days before, my mom was just in town in London, at that thee business trip she had, and,

00:59:15.390 - 00:59:31.290

she told me if you didn’t get in, I think maybe you should quit. And then it, it happened, and I was, I was more depressed, and reminded me, and um. And then yeah. And then like, I had a little bit of

00:59:31.980 - 00:59:47.100

injury issue. Yeah, I, before I leave Japan, I took, two extra bones out of my foot. Um, it was hurting me to dance when I was thirteen or fourteen years old, I took those bones out.

00:59:47.870 - 01:00:01.210

Surgically? Surgically, yes, yes. Yeah. And, and then, that was fine, and I hadn’t had any pain from that on, but with, you know, new place, and like I’m spending

01:00:02.350 - 01:00:17.890

and the food quality, and, you know, those rhythm were start breaking down, so I start having like more and more injury, and like, you know, so that was, so that was my struggle when I was in England.

01:00:18.800 - 01:00:36.320

Um, yeah, I mean, like I said earlier, like, you know, my mom didn’t want me to get hurt, but like ballet could--like, you know, I broke many, many bones by dancing, sprained my ankle many times and, you know, things weren’t

01:00:36.320 - 01:00:50.770

working at that time. And I--and I--and after the year, I tried exactly the same competition and I--the video that I sent, the video, and I got accepted, and

01:00:51.660 - 01:01:09.990

all the hundred twenty student entered the, competition. It’s--the age is between fifteen to eighteen. They, they are divided by the age now, but the um, at that time, we were all in the same, you know, one competition,

01:01:10.500 - 01:01:27.560

and I made it to final. I--excuse me, I won the contemporary award. We have to dance classical ballet solo, and, and another classical ballet

01:01:27.740 - 01:01:45.990

solo and one contemporary dance, which is more modern type of the dancing, and then I, I got that the--I got the award, yeah, I practiced a lot for that one, and you know, and I--I started liking more, um,

01:01:45.990 - 01:02:03.510

dancing, not ball– not just ballet. I wanted to become, you know, a good dancer for both, different types, you know, the classical and the modern dance. And that was my model; that was my things

01:02:03.510 - 01:02:18.040

that I wanted to become after the competition, and I able to prove something that I can become something, and that was, that was a good year, and then I did a s--a different competition in New York

01:02:18.040 - 01:02:35.770

the same year, and it’s called the Youth American Grand Prix and they do it in New York every April, May, around that time. And then--that was 2007, and then I—one

01:02:37.330 - 01:02:53.950

of the ballet master, one of the staff from Houston Ballet saw me and they made me an offer to Houston Ballet too. That was the, that was the reason I came to Houston. Yeah. So when you didn’t make the--make it the first time

01:02:54.290 - 01:03:06.140

with the video addition, did you think about quitting? Or was that not an actual consideration? Mm, I wouldn’t think I would’ve--I was quitted, but like I was probably—no, very focused anymore,

01:03:06.140 - 01:03:22.000

I’m not I’m not sure what was gonna happen if, to be honest with you. It’s--I mean, it’s it’s a big competition, and, and, yeah, I mean, with the--I don’t think I would, I would quitted, but like I would’ve

01:03:22.000 - 01:03:35.440

think about myself a little bit. Like, like, you know, what would I wanna be, really become, because you didn’t make it to the competition. So, yeah I had a little bit of, doubt for myself

01:03:36.020 - 01:03:49.630

at the one point and, but I able to prove something different, so I had more confidence afterwards, yeah. Mmhm. And when you were at the English National Ballet School, did you continue to take

01:03:49.630 - 01:04:08.110

academic courses or only ballet? We had um, uh, English, like, you know, special class. Also we had um, um, um, like a massaging skill, trainings, and you know, learning

01:04:08.150 - 01:04:27.630

about our bodies and our history of dance, history of, you know, ballet, you know, ballet company, and, yeah, like yeah, history of—like it’s a lot related to, to the ballet, yeah.

01:04:28.790 - 01:04:43.850

And they had RAD, which is I didn’t do the curriculum. But they had the, they--you could get some degrees from RAD which you can become a teacher, you can get licensed, and, you know,

01:04:43.980 - 01:05:01.260

some stuff. I can do it, but I haven’t done it yet, I’m more focused on my professional career at that time-- at this time. Hopefully I can go back to England and like, you know, learn some more academic stuff so I

01:05:01.260 - 01:05:13.560

can, you know, teach the next generation. Next gen--um, students, yeah. But there weren’t any math or science classes? Nothing like that, yes.

01:05:13.600 - 01:05:30.550

Uh-huh. And were there other students from other countries at the English National Ballet School? Yeah, like I said earlier, in Italian, Russians, and Australians, a lot of Asians, America--A couple

01:05:30.870 - 01:05:44.790

of Americans dancers, yeah dancers. Mmhm. Yeah. Any other Japanese students? Yes, mmhm, a lot of Japanese, few Korean, yeah. Mmhm. So can you talk about the adjustment of moving

01:05:45.510 - 01:05:56.220

to a whole new country when you were only fifteen? Uhh yeah. It was rough; I mean I never cooked, I never, you know, I have to do laundry, I have to do

01:05:56.220 - 01:06:09.620

like--it was--there was a lot of things I needed to take care of myself. Um... But it was just--it was just good, good, good things to learn, and like, you know, good things to start doing it when I was young, you

01:06:09.620 - 01:06:25.190

know, so I wouldn’t be, you know, I wouldn’t be skipping around those things I needed to do, like, you know, I’m, you know, I’m--it was a lot. It was a lot to take care of myself, and like, you know, especially

01:06:25.890 - 01:06:40.730

that time, it was--the pounds was so expensive, I had a struggle to find a location--a location to stay, and live comfortably. That was my most concerned. Like, you know, I wanted to be inside of the, you know,

01:06:40.810 - 01:06:56.280

center, and able to– access to my school, you know, on time and um... good--London’s traffics and, you know, wasn’t that good, and then train was late a lot of times, it wasn’t on time, it

01:06:56.280 - 01:07:10.380

was--that that was like a little difference with Japan the buses come in on time, the trains and such of things. That was a big adjustment too, and um, weather, that was quite a

01:07:10.430 - 01:07:24.340

bit. Especially, yeah, most– mostly is food. Yeah. Yeah. Were there like dining halls or did you have to cook yourself? We, yeah, we didn’t have a, we didn’t have a cafeteria or anything,

01:07:25.760 - 01:07:40.420

for the school, no, we had, we had a little bit of marks and expenses and Tesco in this like, sort of like small soup, baguette, you can buy pasta or, you know, things.

01:07:40.940 - 01:07:55.310

I tried to cook a lot, like as much as I can, but yeah it was, it was hard to like, you know, that’s like the first thing I have to do. Yeah. Struggle. Very, very struggle.

01:07:55.430 - 01:08:12.500

Yeah. So, you, were there dormitories or you just living separately in an apartment? See, in England I was too young to stay at the dorm. Like the dorm start--the dorm age starts in the England for the men is eighteen over.

01:08:13.480 - 01:08:29.870

So, I wasn’t old enough to getting into dormitory or nothing like that w--and the school didn’t have anything like that. So that was, that was the bit, you know, rough, to, you know, find out the place to stay and, yeah.

01:08:30.630 - 01:08:41.550

Yeah. So, were you living by yourself in an Apartment? Most--mostly, yes. I didn’t share much, yeah. Yeah. No roommates or anything?

01:08:41.550 - 01:08:56.600

Mmhm no, because, I mean we could’ve get the roommates, but the I don’t know, I didn’t I didn’t not wanted to be, like, have a roommate and then I would--I was sharing strangers like, you know, the

01:08:56.600 - 01:09:11.450

bathroom and kitchen and stuff, and that was a little bit cheaper? And I can find like a better location. But sometimes I had to move out, and um, yeah. I moved quite a lot when I was in England, like possibly like

01:09:11.450 - 01:09:25.950

seven times or maybe more in two and a half years? Yeah, yeah it wasn’t good time. And so, when you mentioned that the food was a big adjustment. Was that because you didn’t like the British food, or were there foods you missed from

01:09:26.770 - 01:09:41.160

home? Both Both, yeah. Yeah, it was very hard to get, go to like find good restaurants, ended up like going to the same place for like, you know, two, two years straight.

01:09:43.110 - 01:09:59.260

And, yeah, and also the quality itself it wasn’t, it wasn’t the best. Yeah. Now I move–moved to America and I can say that. And yeah, mostly I miss the authentic Japanese

01:10:00.350 - 01:10:16.410

food. Yeah. And did you feel homesick? You know, maybe like a little bit, but like I was also enjoying the time in, in, in London as well, like, you know I was busy too, like busy at the school.

01:10:17.350 - 01:10:41.870

But yeah, maybe a little bit, you can say that. Yes, yes, but not, not terribly that I have to go back or nothing like that. Yeah. And did you experience any culture shock? The– train and bus doesn’t come in on time that

01:10:43.700 - 01:10:57.060

was, you know, it’s rude to say, but it was a shock to me, it was like why? Like why was that train just all of the sudden stops and like won’t move for like next twenty minutes, that was, that was a little bit of

01:10:57.060 - 01:11:10.040

shocking things. When I moved to England for the first, first two months, and then the, Terror happened in two thous--in the bus, like a train, explosion

01:11:12.430 - 01:11:27.610

happened in the, and uh, um, so yeah, it was a bit scary actually, it was like couple days before I go back to Japan, so it was, it was a big, big problem in Eng–England. Um... Culture shock.

01:11:27.830 - 01:11:40.590

Well, it was like most likely weather shock. You know, in the summertime, they had the sun won’t go down until like ten o’clock at night and in winter it’s pitch black by four o’ clock

01:11:41.190 - 01:11:56.680

in the afternoon, so I was like, What is happening? It was just quite--it was quite miserable, yeah. It was just like a little different. It’s funny, like I–I go back to England now and like a couple

01:11:56.680 - 01:12:12.720

years back and I enjoy being in there, but not to live, and it was more I enjoy more visiting Eng–. I love, I love every part of London, ‘cause I know around. like how to get there and where to go, it’s, it’s

01:12:12.720 - 01:12:27.880

fantastic place and, but like it was just a little bit different when I was young at that age, by myself for the first time, and didn’t fit in so well in in England, but yeah.

01:12:27.880 - 01:12:41.960

How often did you go back to Japan? Since when I was student? Oh, yeah, when you were studying in England? Twice a year? Twice a year, yeah. Like one in summer and one in the winter , yeah.

01:12:44.090 - 01:12:58.530

And did you--so later when you ended up at Houston Ballet, did you choose Houston over other companies or was that your first option? I did, yeah. Yeah actually, I had an offer from the one ballet company named Lee’s.

01:13:01.410 - 01:13:20.020

Um, um, medium sized company, about 40-45 dancers, but at that time, I really wanted to get out from England. You know, it was bad for the school for me to turn it down, because the school is obviously wanted to go--want me to

01:13:20.020 - 01:13:34.570

go to one of the English company, so I didn’t, I didn’t take the offer and I wanted to some, you know, and I, I was at the seventeen at that time, I was, I skipped the,

01:13:35.270 - 01:13:55.070

um, grade, once when I, first time I got to the England in April and I was, I was supposed to do one more year of first year for--from August to like, you know, next June, and also in July, but

01:13:55.920 - 01:14:13.270

when I came back, I was second year and they had it until third year, so--that’s why I spent two and a half years. Um... so I was--I graduated when everybody was like eighteen, nineteen, some of them were like

01:14:13.270 - 01:14:28.660

twenty, and I wanted to study, I wanted--I felt like I needed to train one more year before become a professional dancer. And that’s why I choose the Houston Ballet,

01:14:29.060 - 01:14:46.580

too, because, you know, I had a good- -I heard a many good thing about Houston Ballet’s, you know, academy and I, I wanted to I had that mind my mind that I was like this might be a good opportunity to, like, you know, spend more

01:14:46.730 - 01:15:03.430

time studying and become more ready to become a professional dancer. And when I able to do it and then they was--it, it was definitely a plus for me, and then I loved Houston, when I came to United States--I

01:15:03.520 - 01:15:20.450

mean when I moved for the first time. Yeah, I mean, weather was soothing me and they don’t have a winter here and then I was, I was just, it was different for me, you know, and then it was--and then I grew

01:15:20.590 - 01:15:36.630

great friends and at the, at the Houston Ballet, too. Yeah, yeah, and it was like it’s it’s--life changed at that year, it was good. So what did you know about Houston or Texas before you came

01:15:37.730 - 01:15:55.840

here? Not much about Texas, you know, I --you hear Texas, but like yeah, cowboy or the NASA. That--those two are the only things that’s in my mind and I knew Houston was big city, but right now it’s way bigger that, you know, when I was--when I moved for the first time

01:15:55.920 - 01:16:10.100

in 2007. Um... Yeah, and yeah, NASA and the cowboys and the yeah, I didn’t know what I’m going to–going to getting into, but I heard Houston Ballet was, you know, is a quite good company.

01:16:11.830 - 01:16:26.970

Pays well, and so it’s great to be, like, you know, some of the, like, you know, some of the, like, you know, the second company of somewhere. Yeah, and I was very much interested in United States, and

01:16:29.220 - 01:16:43.690

because I had a great time in in Boston, so I know the experience that it came up in my mind, like, you know, I have to be--like I want to be England, and have different option, like life options to

01:16:44.360 - 01:17:01.200

be somewhere that, you know, whole lot different. And, yeah, it worked out perfectly. Yeah. And did you experience any culture shock coming to Houston, or did you have to make any

01:17:01.240 - 01:17:11.910

particular adjustments or adaptations? Driving. I didn’t have any experience of driving either in in Japan or in England. And they, they drive the opposite way, too.

01:17:12.350 - 01:17:29.540

So that that was a, like, small shocking but it’s, it’s I mean I knew it, I think about that, like they drive different way. Yeah, in Houston it’s just like huge, so it’s--I needed to I want a car as soon as I could, and

01:17:32.260 - 01:17:50.010

yeah I started driving when I was twenty-one or something, twenty-two, maybe, that was, that was big adjustment. And also in Houston, there is not much place that’s a furnished house, so like I’m buying

01:17:50.010 - 01:17:59.500

a new, like first time buying furnitures and stuff and I was hooked. it was fun. That’s, that’s that was like the,

01:17:59.950 - 01:18:12.930

not the culture shock, but like those-- I didn’t know anything about, you know, I didn’t think that I would have to get any furniture or anything because Eng–England was like completely furnished and then like everything came through.

01:18:14.650 - 01:18:23.530

So yeah . And did you find it was easier to get authentic Japanese food or stay connected to Japanese culture in Houston versus London?

01:18:24.340 - 01:18:40.450

I think so, in London--I–I mean of course London has a lot of Japanese Asian people there. There was a lot of Asian food about popping out. So about the amount of getting attached was exactly the

01:18:40.450 - 01:18:59.680

same, but Houston Ballet is supported by like a many, many nationality donors, and we have Japanese donors as well, and I was able to get connected with them and which is, I had a more human interaction with--from

01:18:59.680 - 01:19:16.560

Japanese people or those Asian Society. It’s better--was better, like more physical, like conversation and such were better in Houston. London they had those Japan Centers and stuff, like they had--you, you

01:19:16.870 - 01:19:29.980

can buy a lot of, like you–you know, food, ingredients, and such things, but same as in Houston, you just kinda have to drive a little bit, you know, far away to, you know, to got to H-Mart or some places.

01:19:30.880 - 01:19:46.640

Yeah, but yeah like, like Houston has a great amount of Asian people and foods like to support, you know, our arts, and, and I think, I think it’s pretty...

01:19:46.960 - 01:20:04.420

And I able to perform at the, Asian Society, the performing places there? They–they have the– the really amazing architecture house by the, not far away from here,

01:20:04.420 - 01:20:19.530

isn’t it? Um um, I able to perform there, and such and it’s, it’s um I--Yeah I think I think it’s great what we have is--great of course with Dr.

01:20:19.530 - 01:20:31.990

Chao. They, they show us great interest to Houston Ballet, so. And then they they want to stay connected with me that’s why I have this, you know, great opportunities, yeah.

01:20:32.210 - 01:20:47.390

Was it difficult to obtain the visa to work here? Visa, I had working visa, 0-1 visa, first year I got in the company I had a three years of it,

01:20:48.190 - 01:21:04.770

but it was hard to get approved at the first. Umm, but by doing the international competition in, in, in one in Europe and in in United States was, were a quite a big help I, I think, ‘cause I, I both won the

01:21:05.070 - 01:21:18.960

contemporary award and so I’m not just a one legged shooter coming from Japan and, and got the job or anything like that, so it was like, so promised and like, you know, this dan--this dance is good, so like,

01:21:18.960 - 01:21:35.060

you know, please give a, you know, a working permit visa. And then, I got that, but like you know, now w--we do have a contract a renewed a once, once, once a year, like every year, we get we get renewed, so

01:21:35.130 - 01:21:50.960

we won’t get like two years or three years of visa, so I have to do this visa, application and stuff every year. Yeah. It sucks. It sucks. And then like sometimes, government is, you know, very busy,

01:21:50.960 - 01:22:02.300

very, you know, strange right now. There were few dancers are not back yeah. And we’ve been starting back, like more than four weeks now, and the dancers haven’t come back, some of

01:22:02.370 - 01:22:21.220

the dancers haven’t come back China, Korea, Japan, Australia, or either New Zealand, whichever. But those--most of the people have not had experience, um, um,

01:22:22.400 - 01:22:35.480

to be a, um, um, professional dancer. So it just, you know, like first time applying for it, so like, you know, it just takes--it takes a lot of times.

01:22:37.600 - 01:22:53.980

Even myself to, like you know, me and, me and my other principal dancer his name is Chun Wei, he--we both had a our visa wasn’t received quickly enough, and then we started getting worried about like hey, when’s the visa gonna come and,

01:22:54.840 - 01:23:11.280

and we nearly missed out, the company expedited the forms and then they paid a bunch of money. So, yeah, it’s, and it’s just little bit too expensive to get a green card right now, and I’m just not not doing the process at the

01:23:11.420 - 01:23:23.370

moment. Yeah. But yeah, visa, visa I think is very--visa is very hard right now, especially, working permit especially, yeah. So do you have Japanese Citizenship or?

01:23:23.370 - 01:23:34.570

Yes, yes, yes. Exactly. And do you think you will try to become a US citizen at some point? I, I, I would love to at one point. I think it’s--I mean it’s, it’s a massive country, so I mean it’s great

01:23:34.570 - 01:23:51.070

to have, but I’m, I would like to have--yeah a green card, at one point of my career, but for my future I, like I said, I--earlier, half my life has been outside of Japan.

01:23:51.070 - 01:24:06.760

I hope at one point in my life I wanna, be in Japan, just to go home and you know like go back to my home and see, see further new opportunity and like, you know, yeah. Mmhm.

01:24:06.990 - 01:24:21.430

Like move back to Japan? Yeah, yeah, yeah... Yeah. And do you fear that it will get more difficult to have your visa renewed, to stay here? If I--I’m, I’m

01:24:21.430 - 01:24:35.630

Houston Ballet Dancer, Principal Dancer, so they wouldn’t probably never gonna deny my application or anything, um, are you taking about like for, like a lot of people--

01:24:36.180 - 01:24:49.980

Er, for you or for other dancers you know. New dancers are difficult one to get. Like the apprentices? Yep. Apprenticeship called the ballet, which is like you know, those lower

01:24:49.980 - 01:25:06.990

ranking, even in higher ranking, but like once you get approved once or twice, a lot of people are--have no problem getting visa, which is--Houston, Houston Ballet has quite a good connection with,

01:25:08.270 - 01:25:23.630

you know, law firm, and they do pretty good job with uh, ‘cause I see--I see a lot of dancers like, you know, from LA, or like Chicago, like, you know, those dancers from outside were having a little trou--a

01:25:23.880 - 01:25:37.030

little bit of trouble--not just the dancers like I have friends from Warjurav at the Houston Ballet, he’s from Russia and his visa has not approved yet, so yeah it’s it’s it’s getting...

01:25:39.530 - 01:25:54.540

it’s getting busier or it’s just getting, you know, getting-- security’s tighter or, you know, it’s--things are little different at this–this moment, like I’m talking about this month and last month and...

01:25:54.540 - 01:26:09.830

yeah. I don’t know who to put the blame to, but it’s it’s, it’s, it’s hard sometimes--sometimes it doesn’t doesn’t--‘cause we can’t get in touch with the government people and, you know, in the--they don’t know about the status and the what’s going on,

01:26:11.030 - 01:26:25.650

and it’s so many people in the world who wants who wants to come to America and work and so, yeah. It’s hard. Mmhm. And what would you say are the demographics of the ballet company?

01:26:25.650 - 01:26:37.540

Like what would you say is the breakdown of nationalities roughly? A lot of Asian, a lot of--um... about 7 or 8 Japanese Dancers, two Korean, one

01:26:38.940 - 01:26:54.090

Chinese, not so much European, actually one Italian, one British, a lot of South Americans. Cubans, Brazils, yeah.

01:26:54.360 - 01:27:07.280

It’s quite diverse, actually, yeah. And yeah, now you think about it. We have about 55 dancers? Yeah, it’s, it’s quite spread out.

01:27:07.320 - 01:27:23.980

A lot of Asians yeah. I think my director put the trust on, you know, Asian Dancers because they, they work hard and, you know, they do our job, you know, correctly and stuff, I

01:27:23.980 - 01:27:38.970

guess. Yeah. So in the ballet world in general are there a lot of well known Japanese or Asian Dancers? Mm, Mmhm. There are few, yes. Um... Korean, Chinese, yeah, Japanese people, too.

01:27:39.130 - 01:28:01.080

And yeah, they have great recognition, recognition, um, um, different countries, different, um, um, those famous dancers, right now... right now they have--the thing is in in Japan, it’s hard to become a professional

01:28:01.830 - 01:28:15.240

dancer to sustain their life in one job. Example, they, they work to like, you know, 9 to 3, 4, something and they

01:28:15.240 - 01:28:31.000

don’t get paid--some company they don’t get paid by salary, they get paid by performances. And it’s not like they perform half of the year, you know, performing, so a lot of people are– have a second job, like,

01:28:33.730 - 01:28:54.030

working at the bar, working at the hotel, or like, you know, reception and stuff. It’s—and for, for, for, of course, like a younger dancers like, you know, ranked, dancers were usually face those, those times and

01:28:54.230 - 01:29:04.930

uh--Then the male dancer are little bit easier, you can, like you know, guess for, you know, because in Japan it’s so many ballet school. You can guest as a, you know, as a guest dancer.

01:29:05.680 - 01:29:21.000

And to get called for the female isn’t much because the popularity in in ballet is a female way higher than a male, so they don’t need the guest female dancer much.

01:29:22.590 - 01:29:38.090

So the mens have better--uh, men’s--men--the guys doesn’t really have much like second job. They do guest--go and guesting after their, you know, priority job, or like you know, the ballet company’s job, and then they go out and

01:29:38.700 - 01:29:53.490

do their different jobs. For the female, they, they, they have a, you know, chance for like teaching, but like they want to do something else, they have to have something to like sustain their like ‘cause, yeah.

01:29:54.500 - 01:30:08.680

So that’s why a lot of peop--a lot of Japanese dancers are wanting to leave Japan to become a professional dancer because it’s more--it’s way better care for the dancers and, in Japan you--the female have to buy their own shoes

01:30:10.260 - 01:30:25.710

which is very expensive, the but--buses, Houston Ballet will get you shoes--whatever shoes you want for the entire year for like a unlimited amount of shoes. That’s the huge different and, you know, when likely

01:30:25.770 - 01:30:38.830

we don’t have to have second job. So, that’s the different of the culture, I think. Yeah. Mmhm. So overall you say it’s more competitive for female dancers? Mm yes, Yes.

01:30:39.020 - 01:30:53.270

In any country, I would say. And then in terms of physical expectations, do you have to maintain a certain body type to do ballet? Yeah, yeah, no like, you know, somebody

01:30:53.900 - 01:31:11.250

have NFL sized shoulder or anything, you know, like, but you know it’s--as a become a ballet dancer, I think they trained long enough to able to become, like very like physical athlete.

01:31:11.750 - 01:31:29.540

And, yeah, I mean, able--wouldn’t be--I mean. We need to, like male needs to lift a girl, so like, you know--not so much of like limited like, you know, you can’t go over hundred twenty or

01:31:29.540 - 01:31:44.680

nothing like that, but you know, it will shows it in the body type and has to become a professional dancer and then bigger company gets like major company gets--it’s, it’s harder to, so you need to have certain

01:31:44.960 - 01:32:03.280

body types. Yeah, and of course the looks as well, and the, yeah. I mean, for the girls it’s, you know, it’s tough sometimes, you know, the lady’s bodies changes, you know quite often and uh, um, some people

01:32:03.670 - 01:32:22.260

cares about, yeah, yeah weight controlling, but like I, I, I have a great--I sweat a lot so, so, so I eat whatever I want, to be honest, you know. I try be careful about nutrition, like I try to be, be healthy as

01:32:22.430 - 01:32:38.910

I can be. But I am going to barbeque place like after this too so like I’m not--I haven’t really much of--I mean, for, for physic I--we have two days off, but like I always go to the gym before the

01:32:39.890 - 01:32:54.290

starting new week and stuff. Um, um, yeah I--but like I keep, keep my body always, you know, moving and we have six hours of rehearsal, I sweat most of the time, so like

01:32:54.290 - 01:33:06.910

I, I lose a also a--burns a lot of calories, so, yeah. I think I’m in a shape, you know, in in in a season. Yeah, and you get injured, you

01:33:06.910 - 01:33:22.610

know, but you do rehab, and you know, a lot of things and a Methodist actually like, you know, supports us so like, you know, if you break something or like if you have musc–muscle injury they also they also

01:33:23.130 - 01:33:37.170

take good care of it, too. So, Houston Ballet has, every, every needs, which is great. So you started as an apprentice in 2008, right?

01:33:37.170 - 01:33:49.210

How long did it take you to rise through each rank? Apprentices are one-year contract, so you’ll--you either get kicked or either, you know, you stay for

01:33:49.210 - 01:34:03.550

as a Corps de Ballet. I got to demi-soloist I think 2012, and then after that year, I moved to soloist, like they have a couple different length.

01:34:04.760 - 01:34:21.340

Yeah, I moved up after I spend about five years, four years in Corps de Ballet. Back in the day, we had a, we had a really good dancers and, we just didn’t have much spot available to go up ‘cause somebody had to sort of quit or move up to like

01:34:21.780 - 01:34:35.010

somebody take that spot. So like it was packed. Really good company I was very motivated when I joined the company, yeah. So what percentage of people rise through each rank like

01:34:35.360 - 01:34:51.600

corps, demi-soloist and so on? Right now, it’s, it’s quite high, and then every company has a different, set amount of people and, you know, just because of--for the budget and, you know, such a such a things,

01:34:52.550 - 01:35:08.170

matters in that situation, yeah, I mean, somebody, you know, has a future and like, you know, they will use that person to like, you know, some--you know, make them challenge something and prove it

01:35:08.440 - 01:35:25.020

and if it doesn’t work they will, you know, they’ll keep continuing trying you and, it depends on how the person do well and how the company wanted to expend the dancers in all like the, you know, moving--move

01:35:26.440 - 01:35:41.970

up move them up so they can keep them and, you know, such a things. Yeah, and I, I went through every rank, it took me a--it took me eight years to become a principal dancer, which

01:35:42.140 - 01:35:59.530

is average and not too long, but not too fast. I, I experienced a lot of things and, it’s--yeah, I mean it’s a good--it’s great time to be--and I dance a lot too so I--good time to be in Houston Ballet, you know ?

01:35:59.530 - 01:36:14.120

Do you know roughly what percentage of people starting out in the Corps end up in the Principals? Some people moves to different company, some people join as, you know, high ranking or the Corps de Ballet.

01:36:14.400 - 01:36:30.360

Depends on the age, depends on the what directors taste. Percentage? I would say, let’s say Corps de Ballet which is like the most dancer stage, or like, you know, the younger dancers starting from

01:36:30.440 - 01:36:43.420

that point. I would say, three or four people at the most, you know, in one year would move up to demi-soloist or skip to the soloist. It depends on the--yeah, it depends on the what become

01:36:43.420 - 01:37:01.910

available, so let’s say 20 dancers in in Corps de Ballet, I would say 3, so yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s not it’s not high percentage and, yeah, I mean, peop– that’s why people work hard and yeah we have--we do have a

01:37:01.910 - 01:37:19.250

great dancers there and yeah, from inside outside of the United States, yeah. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, a few years ago, you mentioned dancing as Goro, the Japanese pimp in Madame Butterfly, right?

01:37:19.450 - 01:37:31.250

So in ballet, how often does the nationality of a dancer correspond to the role or was that just a coincidence? Well that’s--it’s a one of the coincidence as well. My director is also a choreographer.

01:37:32.930 - 01:37:45.380

He is from Australia and he, he made a Madame Butterfly--I’m not exactly sure when he created it, but I think he created it in Australian Ballet, where he was still there.

01:37:45.750 - 01:37:58.670

Very young, actually, when he made it. And, uh, um... that become his signature ballet to, sort of, perform often. Madame Butterfly, he had a good, good,

01:37:59.010 - 01:38:12.160

um, great interest, I believe? To Japanese culture, and I’m pretty sure he was fascinated by the story as well. And that’s why he decided to create that piece

01:38:12.970 - 01:38:27.720

and--and I, you know, I have that Asian look; I’m not small, but like the Goro is like, you know, the small Asian, and like, you know, the bald headed guy. And who care--who takes cares--you know, who’s--who is a pimp, and um,

01:38:28.350 - 01:38:41.910

um--but yeah, it was--the thing is like, you know, we have American dancers and, you know, outside from, you know, like, the looks were quite important to, some dance--some, some ballet, like I’ve

01:38:42.010 - 01:38:58.830

done Golem like twice, like, we’ve done it like, you know, in that year, we did it four years--four years ago, and we’ve done--I’ve done quite some times, and just because I think I have that Asian look and they want to

01:38:58.830 - 01:39:11.580

use Pinkerton, which is the main character--the male main character who’s American. Then he wanted use, you know, non-Japanese dancer, which is I’m okay with and um.

01:39:12.500 - 01:39:26.850

Um, but we do also perform not just Madame Butterfly, like you know, we, we have, Don Quixote, which is based in Barcelona, Spain. So they, you know, the character,

01:39:27.190 - 01:39:42.160

you know, my character becomes Spanish and like, you know, doesn’t matter at all, and you know, such of things. You know, one day, I become a crown--king crown or like, you know, I--crowned, crowned

01:39:42.260 - 01:39:59.550

Prince and from Austria and--so yeah, I get experience you know different, you know, different situations and in in in the ballet, you know? But normally, it doesn’t have to be like the same race as the character?

01:39:59.550 - 01:40:15.140

No, no, no. But it’s interesting, I get to--we did the West Side Story from Jerome Robbins. They choose for the sharks, or sharks or whichever that was, for the--whichever side for like pure American

01:40:15.180 - 01:40:32.270

people and then the other side is a little bit Hispanic and like, you know, sort of--a little bit of different look than they had and they, they, they divide the cast something like that. But not in, not in harmful way or anything, it’s just a looks of the--cause they--it, it, it matters a

01:40:32.360 - 01:40:44.410

lot ‘cause, you know, the audience see-- sees what they sees and then it’s easier to indicate like decide which ones. Yeah, it’s just it’s just the sometimes looks are quite important.

01:40:45.000 - 01:41:01.020

Yes, yeah. Do you think you ever missed out on a particular role because looking Japanese or anything? Sure yeah, sure. I would say yes. But, but I’m doing just my job and then I’m don’t cast myself, so

01:41:01.020 - 01:41:12.620

you know, I have no, no place to say that I, I wanted to do this, this is just because I’m Japanese, I don’t do that. You know, I’m never, never reacted that way. Yeah. And I’m on the stage sometimes

01:41:12.620 - 01:41:26.780

I do--I don’t look just Japanese, like something--you find a way, you could be somebody else, something- -yeah, ‘cause I’m a half French and able to show some–some of, of the parts as well. So, yeah.

01:41:27.730 - 01:41:42.060

Do you feel that being Japanese or Asian has been an advantage or disadvantage to your career? Um... You know, I have--my whole family has flat feet, so I’ve like, you know, the physical and--

01:41:44.600 - 01:41:59.350

I’m, I’m very athletic, but like I have, you know like, not so long leg and I have long arms and I think physically--see here’s the thing, like if I’m pure Japanese I wouldn’t have this, like have what I have.

01:42:00.070 - 01:42:17.810

And, half, half French it sort of the helps the, the body of my line and you know, such a things. Some Japanese dancer have a little bit of advantage, of you know, like have like shorter leg, like, you know,

01:42:17.850 - 01:42:34.390

not, not so good lines and, like, like a little bit bigger face, or you know, like some, have, have that actually in in Japan especially. So like, if you’re such a good dancer that if you don’t have the body

01:42:34.390 - 01:42:53.820

type and like, you know, the looks in, in in them–themselves, sometimes hard to get accepted by a good company or like major company or outside of Japan, so.... yeah, it is a it is a art form.

01:42:54.990 - 01:43:11.430

It is, very--it’s a very naïve and, it’s quite sensitive in in some ways. If I don’t have--if I’m, you know, if I’m quite ugly or if I’m, you know, I don’t have good body or anything

01:43:11.590 - 01:43:22.460

you know, I wouldn’t have this job. So I’m--I I feel very lucky I have some, some, somebody that’s not embarrassing. Or like, I don’t know,

01:43:24.000 - 01:43:41.540

yeah I mean but it might--like I, I explained earlier my entire year, my entire--my life has been, not working out, but like I’ve been in shape, like you know, dancing and--so, I, I, I felt at some point I made

01:43:41.540 - 01:43:58.910

my body into like in the shape that I want it to be. So lots of like self care is being--have been in into my body and, and yeah I think that’s--that’s what I need to be.

01:43:58.910 - 01:44:12.060

I need to work hard every time, that’s to keep, keep the, physical, physical like in myself, yeah. I think it’s, yeah.

01:44:12.290 - 01:44:24.420

I think it’s very important yeah, I can’t get fat, you know you know? And then do do main role and then I don’t wanna I don’t wanna let people down, you know? I want to be able to show my best of me and then that’s why I’m

01:44:24.420 - 01:44:39.580

always, you know, in and out of studio, in and out of gym, taking, taking care of myself, yeah. And have you ever felt doubt about your decision to become a professional ballet dancer or have you ever thought what if you’ve done something else?

01:44:40.140 - 01:44:59.240

Yeah, I mean I always, obviously, you know, I, I I’m a I’m a huge soccer fan. I, I follow the news a lot. I think I know footballer more than ballet dancers. And then, you know, I see those players

01:44:59.240 - 01:45:15.210

getting that much amount of salary and the dancers, you know, not being so appreciated. And especially like, you know, you see those NFL player, like any sport getting you know--like basketball salary are

01:45:15.270 - 01:45:31.440

outrageously high, and--which is, which they deserve, but um... those things--I mean, it’s a small thing, but like, you know I know I, I, I know what I’m--what I’m doing is from my heart and I love what I’m

01:45:31.480 - 01:45:48.110

doing. But when it comes to like money sometimes, ah, they get that much and then like, what are we getting, you know? Sometimes--and, yeah, that’s not regret or anything like that, so I don’t take in minus

01:45:48.350 - 01:46:01.910

anyway. Yeah. So do ballet dancers have any kind of labor union, or organization? Mmhm. Yeah, we have AGMA: American Guild, um,

01:46:03.350 - 01:46:16.360

Music of Arts, or something? Maybe--yeah, AGMA, yeah. We have the big union from New York ball–ballet... bunch of ballet company has the union

01:46:16.740 - 01:46:29.580

behind it, and it’s, it’s very good. Um, um take good, good care of dancers and um, um so yeah, we do we do have one, so yeah. It’s, it’s great. Yeah.

01:46:30.150 - 01:46:45.910

And do you get paid time off for injuries or other-- Yes! We have workers comp, if I, you know, broke--one time I’m like big injury, like I broke my foot. I was having taking care of by Methodists and good

01:46:46.010 - 01:47:03.450

health insurance and we do get--I did get paid and, you know, because I got injured at the work and, so yeah. We do have a good backup, yeah. Mhmm. So in another interview, you mentioned that

01:47:04.100 - 01:47:15.820

ballet careers don’t last a very long time. How long would you say most careers last? Male and female is just a little bit different. A female can go longer, I believe.

01:47:18.270 - 01:47:32.490

For the male, you know, it’s just, it, it is a physical, um--I take--I, I won’t be able to think that, we just, you know, standing around. It’s everything we do on the stage is is being

01:47:32.490 - 01:47:47.530

trained, is being like, you know, hours of, you know, work put into it. And um, um it’s very physical, I mean, I lose so much–many so much pounds after I do like, you know, main role and stuff; I sweat it out.

01:47:48.720 - 01:48:02.160

Very exhausting, you know? But we just not dancing moving around, we also acting as well, so like it’s, yeah, that’s the, that’s, that’s ballet. Sorry, I forgot the question.

01:48:02.430 - 01:48:13.100

Oh yeah. How long do most ballet careers last? Like at what age? Oh, yeah. I guess, for the male, I would say like if, if it gets to forty, I think, maybe that’s the time.

01:48:13.720 - 01:48:32.470

I would say, thirty-five, thirty--like later thirties I would say. Female, you can go over forty if they if they want to. It depends on, on the person, yeah. But, yeah that’s, that’s average of like retirement, I think,

01:48:32.710 - 01:48:49.360

yeah. And what do most dancers do after retiring? You know a lot of dancers go back to college, a lot of dancers, just take care of family, a lot of dancers goes to go and, you know, start teaching, become a ballet

01:48:49.360 - 01:49:06.440

dancer. My friend just got contract with the Nation Bal--National Ballet of Estonia. He’s from there, actually. And then, he going back home as a um, um, the ballet company’s director.

01:49:07.050 - 01:49:27.620

Which is, you know, it is big deal, so, yeah there’s many, many people have, set mind to like, you know, what’s going--what, what they want to do after dancing career. Mmhm. How do you spend your time outside of ballet?

01:49:27.750 - 01:49:40.390

I have a dog. I spend time with my dog quite often. Relaxing, you know. Outside my work I, you know, as the age goes higher, I need to like take care of more and more of my

01:49:40.390 - 01:49:55.260

body, so like I get like massage, sometimes acupuncture. Yeah, we--I purchased the massage gun so like, just like I always just taking care of my--and like, try to relax,

01:49:56.440 - 01:50:11.960

eat healthy food, cook a lot, yeah. And taking--I I own the house, I take care of it and, that’s--I’m busy with that, actually, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a message, what did you say, gun?

01:50:12.700 - 01:50:25.220

Massage gun, which is like a--it’s like a--it’s like sort of like vibrates, and you sort of like, you know, relax your muscle. It’s, it’s like a, it’s a thing now.

01:50:25.220 - 01:50:36.860

It’s a, you know, like a foam roller, um, um, to do exercise with for, for our muscle, you know, relax and other thing. I also have a um,

01:50:38.650 - 01:50:51.530

those, those guns that like, sort of like, you know, pressure to like, you know, like make the muscles softer. Something like that. What do you think is the future

01:50:55.800 - 01:51:16.940

of ballet? I think it’s--the future of ballet is... I think it’s--it depends on, you know, how... how the company presents and, you know, draw the interest from the people who never seen ballet

01:51:17.000 - 01:51:30.750

before and then--And I want, I want people to like, you know, able to enjoy it--and that’s our duty, like, you know, our duty is like, you know, a play the role correctly and then

01:51:30.920 - 01:51:46.360

like, you know, so, so that audience can understand what’s going on because we don’t use the mouth, like explain who is who and like, you know, who you are. And, and, I think–

01:51:47.270 - 01:52:03.710

and the new creation of, you know, something which Houston Ballet does quite a lot with– with my boss. Who, who creates a piece or story ballet. I think generation, you know, passing

01:52:03.710 - 01:52:22.320

onto correct generation, that’s like to generation to like, you know, correct, way of dancing, you know, like by teaching, by showing, um... Yeah. And, you know, trying, you know, the ballet world

01:52:22.360 - 01:52:38.840

start--trying to do the lower projection and stuff and, you know, lighting skills, and just the ideas yeah. I mean, they are doing, I mean, I think it’s doing really well, and to the community and trying new different things and

01:52:38.840 - 01:52:53.430

then it’s very, very interesting. And yeah, I mean, it’s, so yeah, I won’t be--not just the Nutcracker that we, we do, you know, we have different things that, you

01:52:53.430 - 01:53:12.580

know, programs that we want people to like interested and like, you know, able to feel the, like able to connect the, you know, connect it with the audience, like you know, by how we performing and but

01:53:12.870 - 01:53:30.200

also interacting after performance and stuff. Um, community, yeah. So would you say you see yourself as an American or not particularly? I’m Japanese. I mean it’s--I not American at all and then--but like I’m--I

01:53:31.250 - 01:53:45.130

love this city and I, I can see myself spending a lot of like long time in Houston or either somewhere else, but and I’ve been traveling to travel to like quite a lot of places and

01:53:48.070 - 01:54:06.360

I like, I like Japan, of course, but I like--I do, I do like Houston, I do like United States, it’s just very, comfortable zone, I think they, they provided with really good um, um service.

01:54:06.360 - 01:54:24.950

I mean it’s, it’s more freedom here and I enjoy spending time here and just right now I keep busying myself at the work and, you know, being focused and yeah. Yeah. Mmhm. Great, thank you, those are all the questions.

01:54:24.950 - 01:54:28.140

Sorry you had to stay for so long. Yeah. Are you sure? Oh, Oh man. Of course.