A is AsiA / Archives

Jul. 1, Thu.

Classic Performing Art RAKUGO in Osaka, Japan
(This program was first broadcast on Apr. 8)

Osaka prides itself on being the global capital of laughter. In this city where a sense of humor counts for more than anything else, we join some foreigners who are challenging the least accessible peak of the Japanese traditional arts, the comic storytelling techniques of Rakugo. The Rakugo repertoire all goes back well over 100 years and the storyteller sits out on his own in front of the audience with words his only tool for conjuring up the past and making people laugh. We meet two men from other Asian countries who share a burning enthusiasm for the arcane Rakugo art. ACE is Nishantha from Sri Lanka, conqueror of Osaka and king of guffaws, and NEW ACE Warattei Harito from Turkey, who studies Rakugo as a field of scholarship and this year steps outside the ivory tower for the first time to challenge for the title of best student Rakugo storyteller in Japan.