Now, why did Shiho choose to become an actress? It was when she lived in London and she was 14 years old. She was deeply impressed by Betty Buckley playing Norma Desmond in the musical "Sunset Boulevard."
"There was no music. There was no line, either. She just looked up and squinted into the spotlight. Just one person in a large stage playing such a role speaks more than words. I was deeply touched and I got goose pimples on my whole body."
Not many people find what they want to do in their lives at the age of 14. And, only a few people can put their dream into action. Actually, she started ballet at 7 of her free will. She persuaded her parents who opposed her decision and went to a boarding school and at 9, she started to dance and do ballet every day. Later, she decided to become an actress in Japan and returned to Japan by herself. While I was amazed by her energy, I remembered her following words.
"No matter where I go, I'm a foreigner."
She is a girl who had lived in different places like Bahrain, Singapore, Japan, and England from her early childhood. She must have been thinking who she is far more than ordinary people.
"I wanted to be enrolled in a high school where they have a good theater club, but there was something I had to do before that."
In her high school, she took Japanese lessons every day. She had good ears, so she soon learned how to communicate, but had problem in reading and writing. "I got zero point even on English exams because I couldn't read the instructions in Japanese." Japanese language is hard even for native speakers because of many reasons including the complex polite forms. So, it's easy to imagine how difficult it was for her to start learning it in high school.
After she graduated from high school, she kept having auditions every day. In her spare time, she read novels to read between the lines in order to understand emotions of the characters.
"I was so grateful to my parents who supported me. They said they would take care of me for four years, but told me to make my living after that."
But, life isn't easy. Even though she had some small jobs, she couldn't find her way out to become an actress. Time went by mercilessly and it was near the end of the fourth year that she promised with her parents. She had an audition for the NHK serial TV drama "Sakura" and she was planning to give up her dream if she failed.
And, she passed splendidly.
