Profile of a foreign butler cafe employee

An NTV news special report about residents of Ginza that aired yesterday included a segment about a foreign guy who works at a butler cafe:

• The guy’s name is Will and he’s a student at Sophia University. He pays 88,000 yen to rent a room at a guest house in Ginza. He earns his living expenses by working at a butler cafe.
• He wants to be a pop star in Japan. Much like Jero, he has a Japanese grandmother who taught him about Japanese culture and music. His favorite singer seems to be Utada Hikaru. When he sings an example song, the narrator comments on how he needs some more practice. Ouch.
• The narrator makes fun of his inability to follow the cooking directions on his instant rice package. When he adds ramen to the rice, the narrator hopes that he didn’t learn how to make such a monstrosity from his Japanese grandmother.
• Lacking a piano at home, he uses one at an electronics store for practice.
• At the end of the report he goes to an audition. The judges are not very impressed with his attempt to sing a popular Japanese song and say he might have a better chance if he tries to create original songs. Will seems determined to follow this advice.

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)