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On May 25th, 2018, Shota flew to the other side of the planet to find his place in the world.

Photo credits: Remy

Shota grew up surrounded by the bountiful nature of the Tokushima prefecture, and since he turned seven years old, his whole life had been dedicated to soccer. He played through middle and high school. Interviews with famous players got him interested in going abroad and learning English. His love for soccer led him to enter the Kochi University, famous for its sport and international exchange program.

One might expect that this is the part of the story where Shota would start dancing yosakoi, since Kochi is the birthplace of the dance - however, that is not the case at all. He did have a part-time job as a staffer at the Yosakoi festival, but first and foremost, the focus of his life was on soccer and he could not imagine doing anything else.

Then, in his third year of university, he suffered a back injury.

It was painful enough to impact his ability to lead an everyday life for some time, and although his back healed, his future as a soccer player was suddenly taken away.

“Soccer was what I enjoyed the most in my life, and when I stopped being able to play, I did not know where to find joy anymore”, he says, looking back. “But I still wanted to go abroad, for a student exchange, and so I moved to Toronto for a year”.

“I was looking through ads on the E-maple site, looking for a place to live, and amongst a flood of others posts I found… a yosakoi group, led by Emiko Tanaka. I found myself dancing in the Kaede Toronto group, and next I became a member of the Sakuramai Poland International Team”, Shota explains how he made his way back to the Kochi Yosakoi Festival, this time as the tallest dancer (188 cm!) of the special international team.

Shota with Kaede Yosakoi Team (Photo credits: Remy)

The performance at the Kochi Yosakoi Festival was not just Shota’s homecoming, but also a new opening to the world. To his surprise, over 60 dancers from 12 countries who had met in one place just a few days before, instantly found a common language - not English nor Japanese, but the language of yosakoi. Shota describes it as “talking though the sound of naruko”. The team, beaming with joy and energy, went on to give it all during the festival.

“Honestly, it was supposed to be my first and last performance”, he laughs. “But it turned out to be so much fun, and I found so many friends amongst the yosakoi lovers, that I just can’t give it up. Because of the injury, I lost soccer - but I gained Yosakoi and friends all around the world.”

“If I had missed one step on the way, if I had gone to Vancouver and not Toronto, or chosen a different site than E-maple, I would not have rediscovered yosakoi for myself, or made the connections and wonderful memories I did this summer. The thought alone sends shivers down my spine”, he shudders.

Shota dancing with Sakuramai Poland International Team (Photo credits: Remy)

Shota is determined to take part in the festival next year as well, and to show off Kochi to as many foreign dancers as he can. We cannot wait to meet with him in Kochi next summer!

// Ela