Recently a friend of a friend contacted me with questions regarding my experiences in the Japanese entertainment industry.  Below is my reply.

How hard has it been for you to break in?
The biggest advantage with my comedy has been simply being a foreigner.  This obviously really helps in getting me noticed.  People remember me, and I stand out at auditions.  I've never met another foreigner doing comedy in Japanese, and I'm always the only non-Japanese at comedy auditions or live shows.  There are a few I've seen on TV, but almost never consistently.  The biggest one I can think of is "Bobby"--an African guy that speaks fluently.

But there have been major challenges with breaking in.  I certainly don't fit "the pattern" often seen on mainstream Japanese media.  I sing funny songs in Japanese, and sometimes they're about taboo topics.  Japanese comedians rarely reference politics, but I dabble in political satire as it provides a well of comedic sources (How could you NOT make fun of the drunk Japanese finance minister!?).  The one time I got on a major 

Ochidani Park
There's a gorgeous park in Tottori called Ochidani Park.  For a few weeks during late June, the park is home to thousands of active fireflies at night.  It's quite the popular local attraction, so I went to see them twice.  I was especially excited because I had never before seen fireflies.  They looked like little green ghosts hovering everywhere.  It was indescribably surreal--like being in a fantasy video game or dreamy movie sequence.  I thought I saw a strange red one, but it turned out to be an old man smoking a cigarette in the dark.

Osaka Street Live
I played guitar on the streets of Osaka a few times.  The first time was funny because the police came and asked all the other Japanese performers to leave.  I will say that the other performers were shockingly 

Rollerblading, Tottori-style
I've been rollerblading a lot lately at this skateboard ramp park near my house.  I've been trying to teach myself rollerblading tricks--something that every 26 year-old needs to know.  It was going well; however, one fateful day I landed a jump wrong and slammed my full weight on my left heel.  It hurt so badly that I went to the hospital a few days later fearing that I fractured something.  They took an x-ray.  Luckily, nothing was broken, but it took a solid 3 weeks for it to finally heal.  I felt like I was in that scene in "Lost in Translation" when dear Scarlett has to go to the Japanese hospital.

My First Time on TV
A news station in Yonago (Tottori prefecture's other major city) contacted our school asking if they could include our school in a report on new stores/stuff to do in Tottori train station (our school is inside the station).  They requested a demo

Dance Club
I finally went clubbing in Tottori a few times.  The club had a small, community-like feeling to it, so I kinda felt like I was at the local hoe-down.  I ran into a few of my students, and the other foreigners there randomly talked to me just cuz I'm a foreigner.  The foreigners here all seem to stick together.  Since the overwhelming majority are English teachers, we all have something in common from the get-go.  Instead of asking, "what do you do?" you could ask "where do you teach?"  

The dancing was interesting.  Everyone faced the DJ at the front of the room, so it kinda looked like an aerobics class.  No one really danced together.  The DJ played really odd music (American 70s lounge music that I didn't recognize).  Apparently, Tottori's DJ talent doesn't exactly meet LA standards.  I even gave the DJ a note in Japanese asking that he