Don't tell me you've given up your dreams
Yutaka先生M, who dreamt of making his debut as a singer.
When I was 25, I went to school to study to be a Japanese language teacher.
I attended classes during the day and had a karaoke job in Ueno from night to morning.
It was then that I met M-kun, who worked with me.
I had a dream of quitting my sales job two years after graduating from university and working as a Japanese teacher abroad.
M was in his fourth year of university at the time and was aiming to make his debut as a singer while forming a band and performing live.
I was 25 at the time and he was 22.
We were both young and often drank until noon at a pub that was open 24 hours a day after our morning jobs.
He was a very kind man and listened to my dreams very carefully.
He passed an audition for a European record company, but declined to make his debut with them because he wondered if he could make it with his current abilities.
I remember his live performances were so lively that I was encouraged myself.
I had a dream for myself since I was young and there were many people who denied me when I talked about it.
'You can't do it', 'You need to stop living like that'.
But he was different.
It may be that we had big dreams for each other.
The only difference between him and me is that he was very popular.
He was struggling to decide which was more important: selling himself as a singer or his girlfriend, whom he was dating with the intention of marrying her.
Neither of us had any money, so we bought a bottle of cheap alcohol from a convenience store late at night and sat on a bench at the bus stop, listening to them talk about it, which is a memory now.
We worked part-time, played, fell in love and studied while we slept.
There was a time like that for me. 'Don't tell me you've given up your dreams.'
After several years, he contacted me and said, ‘How are you, Noda-san? I am working in a nursing home now’.
I was surprised to see him take a break from music and do something different, but now I'm looking forward to seeing what dreams he has and can't wait to meet him.
Most of my social networking followers are from Asia, including the Philippines and Indonesia.
I often get messages from people saying to me, 'Sir, please lend me some money'.
I understand that life is hard for people in the Philippines. So what are you doing about it? I would like to ask.
To improve your life, all I can say is: ‘Study Japanese and work in Japan!’
You are still young. Why don't you study Japanese if you have time to sleep?
You only live once, even if people around you deny it.
Isn't it the life you didn't do anything with that you'll think back on when you die?
Japanese Video course for working in Japan
