I was invited by the Japanese Association of Singapore to share my comics to Japanese expatriates living in Singapore to help them adjust to their new life here.
So I spent some time preparing slides for my brief 13 min presentation, dividing my comics into 1) Customs/Habit, 2) Facilities 3) Everyday Life, and 4) Work. I also had to work out my speech in 100% Japanese. Luckily I had rigorous training from my cultural scholarship in Japan that required us to give presentations in Japanese several times a year.
I was actually the 3rd speaker after a Japanese couple who are both doctors at the JAS clinic, followed by a Japanese lawyer. I was the only Singaporean.
There was a dinner buffet after the seminar that Japanese call it 交流会 (kouryuukai), which literally means exchange party. I brought only 3 copies to sell (because I am running out of stock!) and met some Japanese fans who already like my page for more than a year! I later know that Suzuki (above) who was my first customer of the day, is my ex-classmate's classmate's wife's friend (yeah, complicated I know)!
A few brought their books for me to sign too! :P
One of them (not in photo) told me that her 10-year old son loved my book a lot too and always laugh while flipping the book ;)
Also met
Sachiyo, a Japanese singer and song writer based in Singapore! She is also my fan and brought her own copy for me to sign ^^. She's holding a gig soon right before my birthday at Bugis on 28th May. Do check out her Facebook page and
event if you are interested!
And I didn't know doctors like my book too XD
Special thanks to Ikegami-sensei from JAS and Sihui for helping me to correct my poor Japanese grammar and practice my Japanese before the presentation. She was so worried that I would screw up, but hey, no problem with a script in hand! (Because I always print it out during my presentations with my scholarship) That's all with my sharing session. Many people feedback that they found it interesting, but maybe a bit too short so if I'm invited again next year, I'll add 10 more slides into it, haha.
My next public event is tomorrow for Skillup at Scape and beginning of next month for Asian Festival of Children's Content at Natiional Library.
Details can be found on my homepage!
Comments
Post a Comment