Intern project by #207 Andreas Fuji (Denmark)
I will be speaking about my Obubu project, which was interviewing the four artisans we collaborate with. These artisans are Toshi-san (mochi), Saito-san (pottery), Hosoi-san (hand rolling), and Ishida-san (wagashi).
My project actually started out completely differently. I went through five other project ideas before I realized this was what I wanted to do. The reason was that I kept thinking about what Obubu wanted me to do and how I could best contribute. So, I asked all the AMs and staff members what was needed. Almost every time, they gave me the same answer: “It’s important you do something you enjoy.” I then concluded that I should focus on something community-based, because that was what I originally wanted before coming to Obubu. In my internship interview, I had also said that I wanted my project to be connected to the community somehow, and that I wanted the chance to speak with the locals of Wazuka. And finally getting closer to my current life goal, which is to learn better Japanese.
After attending the mochi event and finding it really nice, I went to the homepage to see more information about it. I then realized that the course pages about the artisans didn’t really give me much of a feeling or connection, which I thought was a shame. So, I decided to do interviews with them to show how wonderful they are and to give potential participants a better understanding of what they’re signing up for. Videos capture this so much better than just pictures and event descriptions.
Now, my Japanese isn’t the best—especially not my writing. But thank god for ChatGPT, which helped make sure my text wasn’t completely off. I contacted the artisans and arranged dates, mostly for times when they were already coming to Obubu so I wouldn’t bother them too much. I only needed to ask 5–10 questions, since the plan was just to get enough material for a short 1–4 minute video. People generally have limited focus time, so I didn’t think a 30-minute or hour-long interview would work well on the homepage. Maybe one day, there could be longer interviews additionally, but for giving a quick feeling or first impression, short videos are better.
Before interviewing them, I sent them the main questions in advance. That way, they would know what to expect, avoid misunderstandings, and feel a bit prepared in case they had questions or wanted adjustments.
When the day came, everything went smoothly. The only problem was that sometimes I spoke a bit too slowly—but thank god for clipping and editing! The second challenge was that the interviews happened quite late, close to my project deadline, which made things very busy with graduation work and everything else going on.
What have I learned? I now have experience interviewing in Japanese, I learned how to edit video clips better, that I should decide on a project earlier instead of going through five others (this is a problem I have had before), and that I should prepare equipment (sound, camera, etc.) a bit earlier than one might think.
Thank you, Obubu, for giving me the opportunity and freedom to do these interviews.
おつかれさま！
