Neighbors Higashijujo Tsubasa vol.2 Looking back on the social apartment in 2024, where I kept encountering "firsts

This is a corner where we ask residents to share their experiences in social apartments with us. This time, we would like to introduce the column "Second Youth, Social Apartment" vol.2 by "Inoue Tsubasa" who lives in Neighbors Higashi Jujo.

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Looking back on the year 2024 from my own "Kanji of this year

The "Kanji of the Year" for 2024 is "gold. This news makes me think about what "this year's Kanji" means to me every year. Looking back, I think it was "first" for me. 2024 was a year of many "firsts" for me.

It was also the first time I DJ'd at an event in 2024. After that, I started to have connections with people and started to perform at events on a continuous basis. The last event of 2024, "Mazari," which I have appeared at every time, was held at KOARA in Shibuya on December 14.

After I finished my last DJ performance of 2024, I was walking alone in Shibuya at dusk, when the city was in a lively Christmas mood. I was there to participate in Social Night Out, an event organized by Social Apartment.

Social Night Out is the year's closing event among the large-scale events organized by Global Agents, and I had attended all three of them.

The Social Night Out was held in Nagatacho, so I took the Hanzomon Line from Shibuya to the venue. Some of the people who gathered at the event were probably acquaintances, while others were probably meeting for the first time. One of the attractions of large-scale events is the opportunity to get to know people from other properties.

It is interesting to meet people you have never met before. It may lead to new "firsts.

I was swaying on the Hanzomon Line train, excited about such new encounters.

I was invited to an event and unexpectedly made my debut as a DJ. As a result, he ended up performing 8 times!

The event that led to his public DJ debut was the SA x MLS CULTURAL FAIR held at Social Apartment in February of this year. This is an event in which residents open stalls and perform their own creations. Originally, I had purchased a ticket with the intention of going to the event as a regular visitor, not planning to open a stall or perform anything.

However, about two weeks before the event, I had an unexpected opportunity to make my DJ debut. An employee of Global Agents, who used to live in Neighbors Higashi Jujo, contacted me and asked if I would like to perform as a DJ.

At that point, I had been DJing for a few months. Of course, I had never been to an event before, and had only played at the Neighbors Higashi-Jujo lounge. I was a bit nervous about performing in front of a crowd of strangers, but I thought it would be a rare opportunity, so I gladly agreed and ended up performing.

On the day of the February event, I was honestly quite nervous. I made a playlist of songs I wanted to play in advance so that I wouldn't make any strange connections or mistakes.

As is still the case today, I was basically looking for the next song or the next point to connect while DJing, and there were not many moments when I was actually enjoying the music. However, I was happy to see people reacting to the songs I played, even though I was in a rush during my first time as a DJ.

After finishing my turn without incident, I was relieved when I was approached by Masu of Neighbors Kyoto Nijo Castle, who was also DJing at the event. To my surprise, he asked me if I would like to perform at an upcoming DJ event in Tokyo.

I had no idea that I would have another opportunity to perform as a DJ at ....... The encounter at the SA x MLS CULTURAL FAIR was the start of an unexpected career as a DJ.

After that, I performed at "Mazari", an event organized by "Mixed", a team organized by Masu and Chisaki-chan of Social Apartment Miyamaedaira, as well as other Social Apartment related events. By the time I counted them, he had performed a total of eight times. I made my debut as a DJ by chance, and I had no idea that the connections I made there would lead me to DJing so much.

First band, first food stall, and many "firsts" that I witnessed at SA events.

This is how I experienced my first DJ appearance at a Social Apartment event, but I am sure there are many others like me. This is because the two large-scale events held that year were both opportunities for residents to try their hand at "firsts.

World Neighbors Kiyosumi Shirakawa resident Kaimuku had his first band performance and his first cooking stall at the Social Summer Outing held in July.

Kaimekun sang vocals in a band made up of Kiyosumi Shirakawa residents, and the audience was excited to hear him sing songs such as Vaundy's "Kaiju no Hana Uta (Flower Song of the Monster)" with joy.

At the same time, he opened an omelette restaurant with Mari, a former chef at the same property. The omelette rice was excellent, with a demi-glace sauce over a melting egg.

In this way, many "firsts" have been created through the SA x MLS CULTURAL FAIR in February and the Social Summer Outing in July. Some danced for the first time, some rapped for the first time, and some exhibited their own photographs for the first time.

These "firsts" led to second chances to perform, which in turn led to ongoing hobbies and work.

Kaimekun then started a traveling chef service based on his first experience of opening a food stall with his name on it.

Many of the "firsts" created at the two events may have been born from really trivial conversations between friends within the property where they usually live.

I myself started DJing because I was in the mood for a drink, and I organized a music festival with a band in the lounge, which started with a casual conversation like, "Don't you want to be in a band? It all started with a casual conversation in the lounge.

The two events were like a cultural festival that spread across the properties, creating a special scene.

From "Nice to meet you" comes "First time. That is Social Apartment.

When I got off at Nagatacho Station on the Hanzomon Line and arrived at the Social Night Out venue a little late, the event had already started, and the teams were already divided into groups for an intro quiz. The venue, which was a standing buffet-style party, was filled with people from the same property, people from other properties who were familiar with each other, and people meeting for the first time.

The venue was decorated with photos looking back on the year 2024, including those from the SA x MLS CULTURAL FAIR and Social Summer Outing, as well as photos of daily life at each property.

Looking at these photos, I realized that living in a social apartment is full of "firsts. I think about all the "firsts" I have had in the past year.

Looking around the Social Night Out venue, I saw many people I had never met before . I looked around the Social Night Out venue and saw many people I had never met before, and my eyes met with one of them.

Nice to meet you," I said to him.

(Reporting and writing by Tsubasa Inouye)