OVER a hundred children and teenagers enjoyed Rakugo at the Hyatt Regency Saipan ballroom on Saturday.
Rakugo is one of the traditional performing arts in Japan that began in the Edo Period 400 years ago.
Rakugo is storytelling with a humorous ending and uses only physical and hand gestures to advance the story with one person playing many roles.
On Saturday, it was performed via videoconference by well-known Canadian traditional comic storyteller, Katsura Sunshine, in a special event hosted by the Japanese Society of the NMI and the Consular Office of Japan on Saipan.
Katsura told his Saipan viewers that he wishes to perform in person on the island someday.
Kagman High School juniors D’anah Rodriguez, Jude Litulumar and Richard Lacson were among those who were fascinated by Rakugo.
“I love it,” Rodriguez said. “This is my first time watching this kind of performance and it was a great experience. He is funny and the way the story was told is something new to me.”
Litulumar said it was “definitely something different.”
“I really enjoyed how he tells the story. It is really comical like when he puts his accent into it and like when he is pronouncing the words — it was very funny,” he added.
Lacson said, “At first, it looks like it’s only for kids, but I now know it is so addicting for everyone.”
Japan Consul Ono Kazuhiko, in his remarks before the show, said, “It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to our online Rakugo.”
Kazuhiko then introduced Katsura Sunshine to the audience.
Katsura was born in Toronto, Canada and graduated from Toronto University. In 1999, he visited Japan and studied Noh, a traditional Japanese masked drama with dance and song.
In 2008, he became a disciple of Rakugo master Katsura Sanshi also known as Katsura Bunshi.
Katsura is the name of a storytelling family while Sunshine is the stage name that the Katsura family has given to him, Katsura Sunshine said.
He made his first appearance as a Rakugo performer in Canada. In August 2013, he was appointed as a Canadian cultural ambassador and toured around North America.
In 2017, Katsura Sunshine performed in London and New York.
Afterward, he visited 15 other countries in five years to showcase Rakugo.
Katsura Sunshine, who has a YouTube channel, continues to promote Japanese culture to the world.
Japan Consul Ono Kazuhiko talks about Rakugo at the Hyatt Regency Saipan Ballroom on Saturday.
Saipan high school students and their parents watch Katsura Sunshine perform Rakugo on screen at the Hyatt Regency Saipan’s Ballroom on Saturday.
