I am a Bboy

Bboy? Bboy? Come again? Bboy. Bboy... I have no idea. Bboy...? Bboy... Bboy is a kind of rap! Rap! Do you know what a bboy is? Have you heard of them? I have the image that they're people who wear big hats. They're young people and I have seen them in Kyobashi, for example. Yes. Over the years, worldwide media has coined terms like "acrobat", "breakdancer", "street dancer" and so forth. But, to be a bboy is more than just being able to spin on your head. It's my way of life, and, well... it's art, you know. To be a bboy means to have a way of self expression. I mean, instead of expressing ourselves with words, like saying "hey, this is me" and so forth, we express ourselves with dance. That is a bboy. To be a bboy is, in my opinion, a way to express myself. Some people do this by singing, skateboarding, painting graffiti or DJing... but dancing is my way of self expression. I can introduce myself through my dance, with my own moves. Hiphop in Japan was described by Japanese rapper ECD as a flying spark that traveled from the Bronx, across the ocean to light a fire. For a bboy, the fire that keeps him training and encourages him to improve is only one thing: Battle. When I am in a battle, I don't think about anything. I just give it all I got. How should I put it... I forget all about my troubles and I can just be myself. That's what dance battles are for me. It's true that we think about defeating our opponent, but we are also trying to calmly think about what our next step should be. I think that being driven to win is important, but we need more than that. I think we can't win with just passion. This is why we need to carefully think about what tactics we are going to use against each other. During battles, I can hear the music. I can see my opponent. I'm on the dancefloor. I'm dancing. And all I can think about is expressing myself and defeating my opponent. When in battle, bboys use hand gestures to taunt their opponents and point out their flaws. These gestures are known worldwide, although some are more popular than others. They're part of tactics, so I think they are necessary, yeah. If we didn't have these gestures, It would be like putting on a kindergarten show. I think it wouldn't be as fun. Actually, maybe they are what makes it all feel like a battle, and not just like a game. This means, "You should've gone all in" "If only you would've tried harder..." kind of like saying "You're still below me" "I'm still better." But I don't really like it. Even when I see videos of amazing bboys in YouTube, they don't diss their opponent as much. I think this is a Japanese bboy culture thing. There's different meanings to different gestures. For example, there is one to signal that the opponent's move is plagiarized. There's another one to tell him to stop messing around and focus on the dance floor. It's like a warning. It's like a taunt. Gestures have great meaning, but we shouldn't focus only on that, because the battle is more important. If it turns into just gestures all the time and then it turns into a fight, it ruins the whole thing. It's part of the battle, but it shouldn't be the main thing. However, Japanese bboys face a bigger problem than a debate on hand gestures. Some could say that the average Japanese bboy is at a disadvantage compared to a bboy from overseas. We are different. Firstly, in countries overseas, it's easy to travel to other countries. If we talk about America, Canada, Mexico, et cetera... they're connected. It's easy to connect with other countries. Another place like this is Europe. The countries in EU, like France, Germany... ... well I don't know that many, but they're surrounded by other countries. Each country has its own style, so you can have the opportunity to learn from each culture and ultimately develop your own style. I think that's the strongest point regarding countries overseas. Japan is an island country, so we don't really go abroad as much. That's why it's hard for us to become famous, and it's easy to get stuck. Furthermore, bboy training times aren't all that flexible in Japan. There are no places. There aren't many places in Japan that let us practice during the day. So we have no other choice but to practice at night, after the stores have closed, and when there's less people around. We don't willfully plan it, but since we can only start late at night, as a result, we stay until it's very late. Normally, in the evening, I think I would train for 3 hours. Even through these hardships, bboys can still be seen in train stations at night. You could ask any of them, and they would proudly tell you: I am a bboy.