I arrived in Osaka, Japan on August 30, 2005. I had visited Tokyo for my private trip, but it being the first time in Osaka I was looking forward to it. It seemed as if there were fewer people in Osaka than in Tokyo. I also felt that, through talking to deaf people in Osaka that the Osakans were more open and fun to talk to than the Tokyoites.

I had forgotten most of my Japanese, even though I had once had lessons at a church in Seoul. On this visit I spent three months studying Japanese and Japanese sign language. Japanese comprises hiragana, katakana and kanji. It was too difficult to study them all. When I asked questions about Japanese sign language, the teacher would explain only in Japanese sign language and gestures. Since my Japanese sign language was not good enough at the time, it was hard to understand details.

Even after the three-month Japanese language training I was still unable to fully understand the Japanese sign language expressed by the deaf. They were using expressions I had never seen in class. So, whenever I came across one of these, I asked immediately and looked them up in a dictionary.

I had thought that there were few differences between Korean and Japanese sign languages but I began to notice that there were many identical expressions with different meanings. For example, the Japanese sign language for ‘(I) like’ means ‘pants’ in Korean. Also ‘not good’ in Japanese sign language means ‘good’ in Korean. Please take precautions if you ever visit Korea.

In January, I went skiing in Tsunan City, Niigata Prefecture. This year there was an unusually big snowfall; there were almost 4 meters of snow! I had seen snow countless times in Korea but the other six trainees had never seen snow. I felt warm just looking at them being excited in the snow. During the ski training, I had my 27th birthday. They prepared a birthday cake for me—this was something that took me by surprise, nevertheless I was touched. I will never forget this day.

During the Japanese New Year, I stayed at the home of Ms. Ayako Imamura in Nagoya. Ms. Imamura was deaf and had visited the United States for individual training of Duskin Study Abroad Leaders Program for the Disabled. I enjoyed the Japanese New Year, participating in the end-of-year party, writing New Year postcards and visiting shrines. I also went to the house of Ms. Imamura’s friend and enjoyed a cooking competition. The Japanese team made seaweed-wrapped sushi and Ms. Imamura and I made bibimbap(Korean rice mixed with seasoned vegetables) and savoury Korean pancakes. The home-stay was such fun.

Between October 8 and 10, 2006, I went to Hokkaido to participate in a performing arts workshop. There were people with and without hearing impairments from across the nation, to practice performing arts and enjoy the interaction with each other. I had thought that such workshops were usually run by people without hearing impairments, but when I took part in this workshop I found that it was mostly led by deaf members of performing arts groups.

I also had a chance to watch the filming of performances for one day, under Mr. Odate’s instructions. Mr. Odate is deaf and is a film director. I had heard of a few deaf film directors in the United States, but apparently, Mr Odate. is the only deaf director in Japan. I thought it was very inspiring; it was such a wonderful learning experience for me.

The Deaf Puppet Theatre HITOMI (Deaf Puppe, hereafter) is a professional puppet play group. I used to have no interest in puppet play, but gradually my interest grew as my training progressed. The characteristic of Deaf Puppe is that deaf people and non-disabled people are creating performances together. If that alone is not an achievement, I was stunned to see most of the non-disabled members communicating in sign language. I took part in pre-performance preparations, watched practice sessions and participated in workshops. At Deaf Puppe, lighting, sceneries and costumes are all done by the group members. I watched Ms. Sakai making costumes, it was marvelous. I also accompanied their regional tours, to places as far as Miyazaki Prefecture. It was a great experience for me. The workshop’s theme was ‘the box’. Everyone exchanged ideas about ‘the box,’ and practiced further to develop the new ideas. I also visited many places with Mr. Yoshioka, including high schools and sign language circles, to promote the performances. Since Deaf Puppe has their own website where one can browse information about forthcoming events, I was not sure why we had to go out for promotion. Some of Deaf Puppe’s performances are without any sound. Some people without disabilities worry that if they cannot understand sign language, the performances would not be very enjoyable. The purpose of promotional activities is to alleviate such worries and to encourage more audience to come and see the play. Therefore, we demonstrate sign-mimes so that the audience can see that sign language is not an element that is essential to enjoy the performances. I felt that this kind of promotional activities were more beneficial than merely obtaining information from the I had many experiences during my training at Office Kaze No Utuwa. One of them was Mr. Shozaki’s workshop. Since all of the participants were theater members without disabilities who did not understand sign language, I was unable to communicate. But Mr. Shozaki was teaching theater play by using gestures and writing. It was inspiring for me to learn that theater play could be taught this way. Mr. Shozaki is so good at communication.

On May 10 and 11, I participated in theater plays with Mr. Shozaki. The contents were ‘Sign Mime’, ‘Shim Chung’ --a Korean fable-- and ‘Romeo and Juliet’. First, Mr. Shozaki taught me how to produce flyers and tickets and storyboards. The hardest part was script-writing. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was my first ever script-writing experience, and was very difficult. I often felt frustrated as I could not relay my ideas to Mr. Shozaki very well.

Mr. Shozaki did not offer any help for ‘Sign Mime’, saying that I should create it without help. I had to do a lot of thinking, but because of that, I was finally able to offer ‘Sign Mime’ of my own creation. I also had a lot of new experiences including working at the reception desk, as theater guide and in PR, but all of them are now unforgettable memories.

Mr. Shozaki told me ‘the objective of theater play is not about expressing yourself well, but it’s all about the audience having a good time’. website. During the training at Deaf Puppe, I felt most gratified when people, with or without disabilities, came and enjoyed the performances. When I go back to Korea I would like to put what I learnt at Deaf Puppe into practice.

Mr. Shozaki is deaf and a professional actor. He established Office Kaze no Utsuwa on his own.

Just after arriving in Japan it was frustrating for me as I could not communicate with other trainees, as my English was poor. I talked to Wahyu and decided to teach the rest of them Japanese sign language. Gradually this helped us communicate with them, I was happy, except that the two trainees with visual impairments could understand little sign language and we were unable to communicate much. However, when we went out, we would take their hands and I am sure that helped us communicate very well. I had so much fun with the other trainees, visiting places and eating together. Let us move on together!

My perspective about theater was broadened by learning in Japan. I would like to communicate all that I learnt to the members of the Korean theatre group. I would also like to try teaching theater play to children.

I would like to say thank you to everyone at Deaf Puppet Theater HITOMI and especially Mr. Shozaki. Thank you for teaching me so much. It would be wonderful if we could exchange ideas through performing activities. I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone at the Duskin Ainowa Foundation, for selecting me as a trainee. Thank you also to everyone at the Japan Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, notably Ms. Nasu who extended her help in so many ways, it was with her help that I managed to carry on through the difficult times.

I would also like to say thank you to everyone who supported my training. Thank you everyone. Saranghaeyo(in Korean, it means ‘I love you’).