My 1st best album JAPAN PREMIUM BEST & MORE has finally been released~. I had to do various interviews and when I looked back at my debut days and at what I’ve done so far, there were times where I thought, “I’ve done really well, haven’t I?” For example, I had no family or friends in Japan, I hardly had any money and I couldn’t speak Japanese. Even so, I came to Japan. When I think about it now, it was really dangerous. There are lots of bad people out there, right? Luckily I wasn’t deceived by anyone (laughs).

Learning Japanese was really the hardest thing I had to do. People say that languages are easily to learn when you’re 3, 4 years old. Little children’s minds are really flexible. But I was 19 when I came to Japan. I was shocked when people told me that I couldn’t learn Japanese that easily because I was inflexible. But that’s not true, you know. When you think “I can’t talk”, you’ll stop talking. But when you think “I want to talk”, you’ll start talking more.

Live performances are one of the main reasons I started to want to speak more Japanese. I remember my first live performance clearly–! I did an event for the release of my debut song and sang in front of 200 people. I couldn’t sleep the day before because I was too nervous; I was quite scared. But when I started singing, it turned out really fun. I was touched that so many people came to hear me sing.

When you go on stage, there’s no one to save you. You have to entertain the audience on your own, with your own strength. So I felt it was no good if I couldn’t speak Japanese. It wasn’t enough for me to just sound Japanese and sing: performances wouldn’t turn out good unless I’d clearly understand the lyrics’ meaning and unless I’d sing with all my heart. MC is also a good opportunity to share my feelings with everyone; it would be a waste if I stayed silent. I wanted to get better at Japanese for the people who listen to my songs. After that, I got to sing in more places and the venues got bigger, and more people came to see me. My confidence grew as well. I love to sing live nowadays.

Lately I haven’t only been on my blog, but also on twitter. It’s fun to be able to talk with fans! Follow me at @alan725, okay~? My Japanese contains lots of mistakes, but I want to talk with everyone and I have lots of thoughts that I want to share. That’s also why I want to get better at Japanese. …But there are also people who say: “alan’s slightly weird Japanese is fun” (laughter). What should I do? (laughter)