Rakugo

"Rakugo" is basically Japanese stand up comedy. But, they are sitting down when they do it. I got to see some today! IN ENGLISH! It was great! Only one actor describes the entire scene. They use facing, slightly (but not greatly) changed voices, and two props: a fan, and a small square of a towel. They do an amazing job with just this!

One story that was told was about a student (John) studying culture in Japan. A friend invites him to go eat Fuku (blowfish, poisonous if prepared wrong). They go into the restaurant and each asks the other to eat first. It comes out of the work that his Japanese friend was using him as a poison tester, and wanted to see if it was really safe! They debate and debate over who should eat first, and even try to eat at the same time. Nothing works. Then, a homeless man comes to the restaurant. They see this as their opportunity, so they prepare some little napkin full of the fish and give it to the waiter to give to the man. John follows the man, sees him go into a cardboard box, hears eating, and then snoring. He returns to the restaurant, and they talk about it, and then try to eat again. Finally, they take bites at the same time, and think it is the best thing ever. The homeless man came BACK to the restaurant and asks if the other two feel okay. Turns out, the homeless man didn't eat his fish, because he wanted to go back to see if the two that gave it to him DIED.

~fin

It was well done, and showed traditional Japanese humor, style, and gave me something I could understand well! A good day, all in all.