Cruise Ship Audition Rush in Japan! Why Is This Happening?!

Hi everyone! I’m Mayu, a singer who made her dreams come true!

Today, I want to talk about the recent cruise audition boom happening in Japan!

Honestly, before COVID, there were hardly any cruise ship auditions being held in Japan.

Even when there were opportunities, you would usually just send your résumé and showreel through a website or by email, basically submitting everything without really knowing if anyone was actually going to see it…

Auditions themselves were definitely being held, but most of them took place in English-speaking countries, where you had to travel and attend a face-to-face audition.

For someone coming all the way from Japan, an island country in Asia, it took quite a lot of motivation and courage to actually go for it.

The reason I applied for a Princess Cruises audition was because, right around the time COVID hit, cruise companies started introducing online auditions because they could no longer hold face-to-face auditions.

I thought, “This is my chance!”

So I applied.

As someone who tends to take action pretty much without hesitation, I had already experienced failing auditions so many times that I had gotten to the point where it didn’t really bother me anymore.

I guess you could say I was pretty fearless!

At the end of the day, if you don’t take action, nothing new will come your way.

That’s why I sometimes feel it’s such a shame when people let fear stop them from trying.

Now, in 2026, Japan is experiencing a huge tourism boom, and the number of international visitors has increased significantly compared with before COVID.

Wherever you go, you’ll find people from overseas who want to visit Japan.

I actually have some foreign friends who work in show directing and casting, and sometimes the audition team will even include countries they personally want to visit as potential audition locations. Haha!

There’s even a little bit of a human reason behind it:

“I really want to go to Japan… Hmm, why not use an audition as an excuse to go?”

That definitely happens too. We’re all human, after all!

And sometimes, cruise companies specifically want Japanese performers.

For example, the musical I performed in onboard a cruise ship featured a Japanese main character, and the story itself was centered around Japan.

On cruises departing from Japan, a significant portion of the passengers can also be Japanese.

The whole point of creating a Japan-themed musical is to make those passengers feel a sense of familiarity and connection.

But if the lead character is, for example, Chinese or Filipino, Japanese passengers may not feel quite as satisfied or completely immersed in the experience.

From their perspective, the show can end up feeling less authentic.

For those reasons as well, I feel like the timing was absolutely perfect when Princess Cruises hired me.

And this brings me to the new Disney Cruise that is launching in Japan, which everyone is talking about right now.

Since the target audience is largely Japanese guests, with a strong focus on the domestic market, I think this could be a really interesting opportunity for performers.

So if you’re a performer, this might be something worth keeping an eye on!

I’m excited to see what happens!

At my school, in addition to vocal training, I also offer Japanese pronunciation coaching and audition preparation for people who want to become professional singers.

Feel free to reach out anytime! ♪

Mayu