The ticket for the UK blown away

ALC, a famous publisher for English learners in Japan, sought some people last month who were able to visit the UK, have an interview with a producer at the BBC, and collect material for journals of the magazine:ENGLISH JOURNAL. One of my friends gave me the information and encouraged me to apply for the event. She and I spontaneously came up with an idea to attract judges and clear the first hurdle at the same time: telling a rakugo story in London.

The applicants had to fill out an online form at the first stage. Maybe you might think you would be required to be a fluent English speaker. Luckily, you didn’t need to be. Two essays in Japanese: “How come you want to become the UK correspondent?” and “What would you do in London?” Those were what you had to do at the first stage. It was easier than you expected, wasn’t it? Fortunately, I cleared the first stage with the idea.

The mail saying ‘how about coming to Tokyo to have the interview with us?’ reached me in the middle of May. The blog that the editors of the magazine told me that 23 candidates were chosen from 635(they told me in person that 653 people applied for the event). I arranged the schedule to go to Tokyo and informed my boss that I probably visited the UK for a few days as the correspondent. ‘There’s no problem as long as you deal with your tasks’ was what he answered. All the matters were dealt. Just the interview left.

Sadly, I failed to pass the interview. 😦

Two people(I haven’t known who made it) were chosen from 23 candidates at the interview. I should have at least told my rakugo during the interview. Maybe I’m too old to be the correspondent. However, if only I had had much more attractive characteristics to turn the interviewers around, if only I had acquired much more fluent and impressive English skill. Something different might have happened.

I once suggested one of my friends whose dream is to become a professional writer that he keep writing journals and show them to a lot of people. I think I’m the one who must follow the advice.

They are the gift that the interviewers gave me.