"Rakugo"

Last Sunday I went to a rakugo performance. Rakugo is comedic story telling, so there was a lot of laughter coming from the audience. The explanation was supposed to be geared toward exchange students and done in English, but the story teller, who had spent much time abroad, ended up giving most of the presentation in Japanese, probably because there were more Japanese people present than there were exchange students. He also had a heavy Japanese accent despite all the time he spent studying and working abroad, yet he could definitely communicate his ideas rapidly and in grammatically correct English. I didn't catch many of his stories and jokes at the beginning of his presentation because they were in Japanese, but I heard him mention some mishaps that occurred while he was traveling, including one that involved his shamisen (traditional Japanese instrument) case being mistaken for a rifle case.

Rakugo performers are also known for using props, such as a fan or a handkerchief, to assist in their presentations. This story teller used both a fan and a handkerchief, although he used the handerchief more frequently to wipe the sweat from his brow as opposed to using it as a prop for his stories, but he was still very funny, and he joked about how sweaty he became while performing (but since I was sitting in the front row, I could already tell quite clearly). He was also talented when it came to making sound effects, so as he used his fan as chopsticks, he made very realistic slurping sounds to imitate eating noodles. My previous belief was rakugo performances would be composed of jokes based on history or old-fashioned Japanese theatre, so without background knowledge I would not be able to understand much of a rakugo performance. However, this story teller joked about modern-day events that the audience could easily relate to, so I laughed a lot.