My Birthday Gift from the Japanese Government

The first part of it was the news I got a few weeks ago from Japan Foundation, that my maqita/manga that's been published in SPLASH Maqita Magazine (http://www.sevenartland.com), Sang Sayur, actually got into the nominees list for Japan's recent International Manga Contest, run by Mr. Aso Tarou, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Here are the related links:

(English) The link on the winners of International Manga Award 2007 ---> only foreigners were allowed to participate in this

(Japanese & English) The work info of the 1st winner

(Japanese & English) The work info of the 1st Runner Up

(Japanese & English) The work info of the 2nd Runner Up

(Japanese & English) The work info of the 3rd Runner Up

The list of the final 19 nominees worldwide .... sorry the list is only available in Japanese

Last week, I got a phone call from the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta and they requested me to visit them so they could explain to me the format of the ceremony they were going to throw for me on August 1 @ 3 pm. I was completely shocked to hear this, since I am not exactly the 1st prize winner or one of the runner ups. I was honored to meet the Director/Counselor of Cultural & Educational Affairs, Kato san, his assistant, Kaji san, along with the great Embassy staff. We had a wonderful yet brief meeting. So after that, my entire week was filled with non-stop phone calls from the Embassy, them wanting me to write a speech and resume (for the journalists/reporters) etc etc. Because of that, I couldn't find enough time to rest so I could recover from my bad cold. Bad as in super stuffy nose and throat full of muccus (gross huh :P?) haha. Talk about a bad time for being sick >_<. But I figure it was all for a good cause, so I gladly overlooked my sickness.

So here comes D day! August 1, 2007 @ 3 pm. At the Japanese Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia.

The guests included a few members of my family, SPLASH members, Machiko sensei, a number of friends (Felix actually gotta speed all the way from the airport to the Embassy due to his delayed flight from Bali @_@), Jakarta-based Japan Foundation's Director and Assistant Director, plus journalists/reporters alike. The SPLASH members were one of the first ones to appear in the ceremony hall. They got me a nice self-arranged flower along with a super cute and inspiring greeting card they all wrote for me. It was a nice surprise indeed. If you all were imagining this was some kind of 100+ attendant ceremony, you were wrong hehe. The ceremony was small, but I was told that there were more and more journalists/reporters popping into the room as the ceremony went on.

Before it started, I was asked to seat myself next to the Japanese Ambassador, Ebihara Shin. Here is the brief rundown of the ceremony:

- Opening speech by the Embassy's MC
- The introduction speech by the Japanese Ambassador, Ebihara Shin
- The nomination certificate reading by Ebihara san
- The certificate hand-over by Ebihara san. We were swarmed by journalists, reporters, family members and friends alike.
- My speech. Beforehand, they asked me to say a few things in Japanese, and so I did. Then I proceeded with the rest of the speech in Indonesian.
- Drawing demo. They asked me to draw a few of my characters before the audience. A big white board was provided. On the left hand side they clipped a 60x90 cm paper for me to draw on, while on the right hand side they displayed my xeroxed Sang Sayur pages and my colored illustrated Sang Sayur postcard. Again, swarmed by journalists, reporters, family members and friends.
- Extra announcement (my announcement regarding my birthday the day after, August 2). Ebihara san actually started asking me questions regarding myself and my work in English. His English was pretty good.
- Interview time by the media. I was told there would be media present at the ceremony, but I'd NEVER EVER thought there would be THAT many mainstream media surrounding this sick girl and bombarding her with questions @_@. I am just bad when it comes to being interviewed haha >_<

Afterwards, after more photo taking sessions and etc, I did not even have any time to have lunch after the ceremony. Sooo~~~ hungry, I just grabbed myself a cheese pastry and a few glasses of water. Then we all exited the Embassy.

The next day, August 2, apparently my article appeared in KOMPAS, one of the widely read Indonesian newspaper.

Click here for the scanned article

On the same day, another one appeared in the local Japanese newspaper, THE DAILY JAKARTA SHIMBUN.

Click here for the scanned article

So all and all, this is gotta be the most awesome birthday present I have ever gotten! Thank you Japan for making my life more colorful! If there are more pics or articles related to this event, shall post them up here. I also would like to congratulate all the winners of this awesome contest! May we all one day be united in great spirit!


Roger and Over!
S Y S
web : www.sevenartland.com
blog 1 : mini-sys.blogspot.com
blog 2 : mini-sys.livejournal.com