Learning English and locating the dream元外資系CA芸人CRAZY COCOさん

元外資系航空会社のキャビンアテンダントで、TOEIC900点超えのお笑い芸人、CRAZY COCOさん。「楽しく生きる」をモットーに、持ち前の行動力と英語力で新たなステージを切り開いてきた。夢や目標がなくても大丈夫！　CRAZY COCO流「自分らしく人生を楽しむこつ」とは？

Strive to make your dreams come true. It’s one of the recurring slogans foisted on young people. But not everyone has a dream they want to shout from the rooftops. That was the case with Crazy Coco, a Yoshimoto Kogyo comedian who is an English speaker with a TOEIC score, most recently, of 900. “I was never the type to pursue a dream. I wanted to enjoy life and have a good time. When I was younger, I wanted nothing more than to relax on a beach with a beer in my hand,” she says, laughing.

Despite her laid-back attitude, Coco has always been – and still is – serious, disciplined and diligent. She has published her autobiography, Moto CA Geinin CRAZY COCO no Yume e no Furaito Chokkobin, which loosely translates to “The Direct Flight to Dreams by Former CA Comedian CRAZY COCO,” while doing comedy gigs and appearing as a teacher on the popular School of Lock! radio program for school students. “I didn’t have a dream until I turned 35. My book is a shoutout to people who feel the same. I wanted to say that no one need feel inferior because they don’t have a dream. Just know what your preferences are and what you’d like to prioritize in your life. Once you do that, things will fall into place.”

Coco knows what it’s like to take detours and wander along side paths. Before becoming a comedian, she was a cabin attendant, or CA, for a major Middle Eastern airline. She pulled off that feat largely because of the English skills she honed when she went to a college in Australia’s Sunshine Coast for 10 months during university. While she had an amazing time working as a CA, after several years she returned to her native Osaka. She looked around for a job, thought her computer skills were lacking and took the time to acquire them by attending a school. Her English and digital skills got her into a company that liaised with and supported foreign technical interns.

“And then I was diagnosed with COVID-19 and hospitalized for two weeks. I realized life was precious and I had better do something that I really desired.” After recovering, she resigned from the company and jumped into the world of entertainment. “I was lying in bed when it hit me: I’ve always loved making people happy and cheering them up. Isn’t that what I’m truly meant to do? Maybe I wasn’t an expert comedy performer but as a former CA and current English speaker, I thought I could bring something new to the table.”

“I’ve always been light on my feet. When I decide to do something, I’m already up and running to make it happen.”

Coco says she liked studying English since her first class in junior high. When she was at university and shukatsu time loomed on the horizon, she discovered there wasn’t anything she wanted to do in the corporate world and went to Australia in her senior year. “I thought it was now or never to get some real English skills.”

For the first five months, Coco hung out with fellow Japanese students and had fun. “But none of us were improving our English much.” Coco says it took courage to peel herself away from her circle of Japanese friends but managed to do so and from then on, made it a point to only associate with English speakers, whether they were Australians or international students. “I joined a preparation class for the Cambridge First Certificate in English (B2 First) and studied intensely,” she recalls. In the end, she was placed in the advanced level classes and her TOEIC scores shot up from 500 to 850.

“I was glad about the TOEIC score but what I was really after were genuine English communication skills. But TOEIC is a great way to gauge where I am with my English.” Coco has taken TOEIC four times and plans to do the exam again. What’s the secret to getting a high score? “For the reading section, it’s important to see if you can complete past exam questions within the actual time limit. If you take your time, you might manage, but many people get discouraged, thinking, ‘I can’t finish this in time,’ and that’s where they fail. Just keep practicing with official test materials relentlessly. For the listening section, shadowing is very effective. Both methods really worked for me when I had only a limited amount of study time.” (Kaori Shoji)

Words to live by