When will I be famous?

Last night a strange thing happened - I watched myself on Japanese TV.

My Japanese teacher invited me round to her house to watch the interview live on her TV. I was sat there nervously eating the food which she prepared with her husband, drinking a beer and waiting to hear the words 'ALT' and 'Marku-san'.

Of course - it happened and a very strange sensation came over me as I listened to the NHK studio discuss this strange foreign creature called 'Marku-san' to some length before showing a mini-documentary of the life according to a rural ALT.

I know most of us who live out here in Japan are probably used to feeling a bit different from everyone else around us; but when there is about 10 minutes set aside in a news programme discussing you it really does press the point home.

They managed to interview everyone from my taiko teacher and various other taiko players (I had no idea what they were saying about me), to my kids at one of my shogakko's! They also decided to show shots of me entering the classroom, playing the drums and poking a kid with a taiko stick!

But overall, despite being a very strange experience and having worries about not being a good celebrity (see earlier blog) I felt it turned out quite well.

Which was nice.