"Haneul, could you come over here for a sec? I need help with this string."

Yep, that's me they're calling-again, for the hundreth time today. Don't they know that I have strings of my own to tune? Music to practice? Errands to run? Maybe not that much, but shouldn't they know to ask someone else for help? I ran over to Koneko to help her tune the E string on her bass. It was only a little flat, so only a bit of tweaking was needed. . .Easy.

My parents, being the honorable Koreans they are, kept me hooked to a violin from the time I could walk. Eventually, I sold the violin and added the money to jar. A couple years later, I bought my very first and only bass at the age of fifteen. I played with a couple of people from high school on and off, and eventually committed to a full-time band as their Maknae, self-proclaimed musical genius and only non-Japanese member. Now, "how did a cute little korean thing like me end up in a Japanese band like that?" you might want to ask. But really, let me tell you something, it was definetly of my own free-will.

My brother was much older than me.  When he came of age, he decided he didn't want to be in Korea anymore, and just up and left to Japan. He left pretty much everything in Korea. So naturally, I went through his stuff to see if I could find anything cool. After all, ten year old children don't believe in privacy. At first, I just went through his drawers. There were a few graphic tees that looked cool, so I took those. Then there were his CD's, but I skipped those. And finally, his mystical magical closet of wonderment. There were boxes on top of boxes, all filled with unknown treasures. Lucky for me, the first box was filled with magazines in what I could only tell was Japanese. I skipped across the magazine trying to find all the english words I knew. A few letters caught me to a specific word.

And that's why I decided to come to Japan and be a musician. Finding my brother's old magazines was the bridge to having the motivation to come here. But, I didn't start planning until my first trip to Japan. 

 

"Come along, Haneul," My mother tugged me along the hallway. She stopped suddenly to knock on a door, grabbing my collar so I wouldn't sneak off. "Stay here, I'll be inside for a few minutes. Don't try to run off."

Umma gave me one last look before shutting the door behind her. I waited a bit, maybe five minutes, before taking off down the hallway like my life depended on it. People were constanly in my way, so I just brushed past them until someone, probably a security-Hyung or Unni. I looked up to see a very shocked man, maybe in his mid-twenties. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose-fitting tee. The man said something that was most likely in Japanese. This is Japan, afterall. I stared at him for a second before getting out of his grip and booking it. At this point, running away from my Umma was beginning to seem like a bad idea. The man's yelled more things in Japanese, before more footsteps were heard. I turned a corner and ran into the first door. Keeping my ear to the door, the footsteps could be heard traveling past the door. I sighed and slid down the door to catch my breath. But it hitched in my throat when I heard whispers coming from the room I was in. Three guys, only one with a shirt on, all staring at me and talking in very fast Japanese. Standing slowly, I opened the door behind me. . .and backed up into something. Or was it someone? The person I had bumped into said something and then turned me around to give me a curious look. "Annyeong~" I sing-songed to him nervously.

He nodded his head in realization, probably for the fact that if he spoke in Japanese, I wouldn't understand him. He said something to the people in the room. The all nodded and went to another part of the little area. "English?" He said.

I raised my brow and blinked for a second, then realized what he meant. "Yes, I speak English, too!"

The man nodded again and gestured for me to sit on the couch, then joined me there. "My name is Isshi."

I, once more, raised my brow at him. Was he expecting a question and answer session from me? "My name is Haneul."

"Are you a fan?"

I laughed a bit under my breath. This person thinks I'm a rabid teenage fangirl here to him! "No, I'm no fangirl." I then broke out into full blown laughter, and wiped a tear, "My mother brought me here, and I ran away."

He nodded, seeming to understand the situation a bit better. Then it just got akward, cause no one had anything to say. "Say, Isshi, are you in a band?"

"I am vocals for Kagrra," He stated proudly.

Something then clicked in my head, "Oh, I think I've heard of you guys before.."

He nodded, a smile graced his face, "Do you listen?"

I shook my head no, "Not really. . ."

He smiled and nodded his head again. Aish, this is taking forever. . . "Ne, how old are you, Haneul?"

What an odd question to pop! I shrugged my shoulders a bit, "I turn seventeen in August."

 

And that was my first experience in Japan.