My first time abroad was to Japan. At that time no one had any ideas about Japanese culture in the Philippines.
At the young age of 8, I was chosen to be a duet partner for a champion singer. They needed a voice that would blend in and not compete with her voice. To make the story short we won the local competition that served as qualifying for Mermaid International Children's Songfest.
We had a flight to Osaka Japan, stayed there for one night and took a bullet train to Hiroshima.
In Hiroshima I didn't know we'd be distributed to local host families. Everything was lost in translation I guess.
Upon arrival at the house of our host family, we saw a TV crew. We didn't know we'd be televised. and we couldn't understand what they were saying anyway.
With all the cameras in front, bright light, and surrounded by all this camera crew we sat down in this very low table without seats. It was all a disconcerting scene for a kid who has never seen a camera crew before.
Looking at the table, I was not familiar with the food before me. In retrospect they probably served me teriyaki beef or teppanyaki beef. They handed out something foreign to me - chopsticks.
Prior to this, I haven't seen one, and hadn't an inkling or idea how to use it. I was hungry from travel and here was this TV crew filming my attempts together food. I was getting frustrated and with a firm resolve to eat, I skewered the beef with one chopstick.
I was greeted by applause from my hosts and the other film crew. I was there happily chewing my piece of meat as the camera was on me. I wonder what the viewers thought of that.
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