This time we would like to report on the singing session which was held in the multipurpose room of Cosmo Smile Kitano from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm on May 12, 2024.

Sixteen people participated on this day. Mr. Shinichi Anasako, who is a playwright and director, and has detailed knowledge about rap music, led the event speaking in 2 languages (Japanese and English). Ms. Mika Suzuki, who is a lecturer of Fukuoka university and can understand English and Cebuano / Visaya (native Filipino languages) also participated as an interpreter.

At the very beginning participants listened to an original song composed by Mr. Anasako and Ms. Chiharu Kamimoto who is an actor and musician. Actually, Ms. Chiharu had been playing this song with guitar as a BGM since before the participants came. It seemed that those who reached the venue earlier already remembered the melody and they started swaying their bodies naturally and sang together with the soft sound of the guitar, and multilingual lyrics.

After listening to the song Mr. Anasako said in English, “This time we would like to have an interaction with all of you making and singing the song together”. The participants reacted by saying “OK!”. After he felt relieved knowing the participants understood his English, ice-breaking games started as usual.

They played games where participants lined up in order of height, birthday and travel time to the venue, etc. When they formed a group each participant shook hands with people who lined up in front of and behind him / her.

Next, they split up into groups depending on topics of commonality such as “favorite season” and “eating bread or rice for breakfast” etc. and shook hands with other participants in the same group. When a participant who stated her favorite season is winter because there are no bugs as her reason, almost all participants smiled nodding their heads.

After opening their hearts to each other, each participant made a pair with a person who they met for the first time to introduce him / her to others. They communicated with each other using easy words and gestures, although there was a language barrier. They asked their partners questions such as their names and hometowns, etc. within 30 seconds and then introduced them to other participants.

Finally, time to make a song came. Each pair wrote lyrics of lines 3 and 4 of the original song “Kitanomachi de Aimashita” (below) which were left blank. “Ask your partner various questions to make the lyrics. We would be happy if you could make them thinking about introducing your wonderful partner to everyone”, Mr. Anasako said.

The participants were serious about taking notes on the distributed papers, on information they got from their partners in 3 minutes about their favorite foods, hobbies, and dreams. They finally completed making the lyrics after struggling, keeping in mind the advice from Mr. Anasako - “Don’t think too much or you will be confused”.

In the end, the participants shared the lyrics they made with others. For lines 1 and 2, they sang together in pairs. For lines 3 and 4, only the person who made his or her own lyrics sang. From line 5 all participants sang in unison.

These are a part of lyrics of lines 3 and 4 they made written in several languages.
“He has nice fashion sense”
“She likes Disney Princess Belle”
“Ms. Maria has been in Japan for 30 years”
“She wants to work in her favorite Dazaifu”
Songs on “a-once-in-a-lifetime” were made according to the number of participants.

It was impressive that they sang happily with a guitar accompaniment including those who sang shyly and in a small or loud voice.

Here is a part of feedback from the participants.

・It feels relaxing and enjoying because I get to know each and everyone. ありがとう(Arigato) ♡

・It is very enjoyable a lot of friends new encounter.

・I was happy because we understood each other by making the lyrics of the song.

・I was a little bit worried but I enjoyed singing-a-long at the end. I feel like this song will stick in my head for a while (lol).