Kenji Kobayashi

Hi, my name is Kenji Kobayashi and I am from Japan. I’ve been touring with Shen Yun for more than 10 years. Recently my grandma passed away, and I want to tell you about her story. My grandma was the oldest of her siblings; I think because of that, her personality was very strong. One day in 1996, she joined a meditation session in the park. At the time there were millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China. But then the Chinese government began to arrest them and the media started saying crazy things about them. They arrested my grandma and tortured her; they bent her back so much to the point she couldn’t stand up straight anymore. After she was released from the labor camp in China, she escaped to Japan, but we were worried she would be deported. So we started petitioning, and every day after school, we would go to different metro stations to get signatures. I was only 8 years old. One day, I got a signature from a Japanese gentleman. He told me he was really touched by what we were doing. He knelt on one knee, and said “Ganbatte-kudasai,” which means… “keep going.” My grandma was granted a visa to stay in Japan, but the persecution is still happening in China.  

Through my art I have found a way to express my feelings. Sometimes it is not easy, but when things get challenging, I always remember: “Ganbatte-kudasai.”