“Some of you may already know but
the other day the American Embassy invited us to hear President Barack Obama’s Speech.
So of course AmiYumi went.

celebrities from all industries were there,
so some of you may think why Puffy?
I asked the same question.
“Why? What happened?”
And we were so thankful to hear that we were invited
cause of our activities in the States.
Thank you for the recognition.

As we were lost in the crowd of politians
we were seated near stage left.
While waiting and talking about being nervous to the man sitting next to me,
a bunch of bodyguard stated coming to the side of the stage
and the atmosphere suddenly changed.
The president has arrived.

Charisma.
That was the word that crossed my mind when seeing that
everyone was eagerly waiting to hear Pres. Obama’s voice.
(We waited for awhile)
Although I am totally Japanese
I felt as if I was watching the leader that I voted for.
I’m such a wannabe American (LOL).

Right in front of me,
the man that prob. will change the history of America
is talking about Japan, other countries, politics and economics that I don’t really understand.
Using many examples,
he was giving a speech about the many problems we are facing and
all of the sudden I felt so much closer to the world that was so far.

While being apart of Puffy,
and going to many countries on tour,
this was the first time that I felt so close
to a place that I thought wasn’t so far.

There are still so many problems that the world is facing,
and I know it’s a little late but
it made me start to think that these are issues that each and everyone of us are facing.
I’m ashamed to say,
that all the problems that were talked about
was only issues that I would see on the news,
so for me it seemed distant and far.
But today it became reality.

At times he was heated up, at times he was calm,
he knows how to draw the listeners attention and the tone of his voice and intonation
made the speech seem like I was watching a movie.

Pres. Obama is said to give brilliant speeches,
and as said, the leader of the huge country definitely has the power to draw people’s attention.
In all my 36 years,
I have never experienced listening to such a top level person speaking
that, to be honest, I was astonished.

Anyway,
out of the 23 hours that Pres. Obama was in Japan,
I am honored to be able to listen to his great speech.
I was an amazing experience.
Thank you for the invitation!

And once again, we might or might not make a calendar again.
If you decide to get it,
I hope you enjoy it.”
– Ami Onuki