Culture shock drives Jun out of ‘Academy’

Since Day One at the Pinoy Dream Academy, Jun Hirano has always been different. He doesn’t speak a single Tagalog word. He always needs a translator to express himself.

When he volunteered to exit from the ABS-CBN reality show, some people whispered, "I knew it all along." The 18-year-old Fil-Japanese scholar just couldn’t last long in a game where knowledge of the native tongue is the minimum must.

Yes, it’s a case of culture shock all right.

But it’s actually a severe attack of loneliness. The accidental scholar (it was his sister who originally auditioned for Pinoy Dream Academy) misses his family and girlfriend of six months back in Japan.

He has grown so lovesick he not only kept his promise not to fall in love inside the Academy. He opted to leave and return to his inamorata’s loving arms, ASAP.

One more thing: Jun finds the Filipino way too easy compared to the Japanese style of doing things. Just how his limited command of the language didn’t allow him to elaborate.

Perhaps it’s the celebrity part that bothers him. The klieg lights, the full-time attention, the instant recognition celebrity bring can be tough on someone with no showbiz background like Jun does.

The guy is the type who wants to take it the traditional way: study, earn his keep in a typical job where hours are normal, then aim for stardom when he’s up and ready.

Right now, he’s not. So Jun has gone back to Japan to reunite with his 16-year-old girlfriend, finish high school, find a job and enroll in music school in college. He promised to return to the land where his mother (Rodelia Guevarra from San Nicolas, Cavite) was born and hold a concert in Manila someday.

Before he left, though, Jun sent a touching letter to his fellow scholars. The letter, coming as it did from someone supposed to be clueless about what’s going on around him, no thanks to the language barrier, was a revelation.

It spoke of how Jun appreciated the favors his fellow scholars did for him. It mentioned how one of them cooked for him when he (Jun) was very hungry.

He may not speak or understand Tagalog, but Jun has vowed not to let this prevent him from making and keeping friends in the Philippines. After all, he is half-Filipino himself. And it’s his Filipina mother who is single-handedly raising him and his siblings up to this day.

He may be Japanese right down to the core, but he has a soft spot for Filipinos. And he is not giving up on his plan to learn the language of his maternal ancestors.

Maybe someday, when he returns to the Philippines already a full-fledged musician, Jun will stay longer in the country. Maybe then, he will appreciate what he thinks is its strange lifestyle, more.

After all, half of his roots are here. And when you know where you come from, it’s always easier to get to where you want to go.