No, I have not joined a cult.

No, it's not a pyjama party.

No, he's not crazy. He's a comedian.

This is Katsuura Kaishi. This form of entertainment is called rakugo. It's an old traditional form of comedy, though you often see it here on TV. I'm told you can tell by his name Katsuura that he's in rakugo, just as you can tell a kabuki actor by his theatrical name. I don't know if these comedians are born into it the way kabuki actors are (what if you're just not funny?).

Sanda International Association organised a Rakugo in English performance in September in the Kippy Mall (of heavenly toilet fame). Katsuura's first performance was in Japanese, but included some English as his theme was to do with the perils of being a Japanese person attempting to speak English with foreign people. (Koizumi greets Clinton not with "How are you?", but "Who are you?" to which Clinton replies "uh... I'm Hillary's husband" to which Koizumi replies "Oh! Me too!").

In rakugo the performer plays the parts of two or more characters to tell a story. I was very interested as both a person wanting a laugh and a person who does storyboard art - I want to learn how to tell stories better (being able to draw them or write them is one thing - acting them out is another... unfortunately my charisma factor is equal to a that of a turnip. Katsuura's was brimming). The performer's prop is nothing more than a fan. Here he is using them as chopsticks to eat a steaming hot bowl of ramen - a gag he often repeated. Japanese people love eating and love food - looking at it, tasting it and talking about it. A lot of kids characters are edible friends!

This story (done in English) was of a man trying to find a competent rickshaw driver. He was hilarious. Being able to conjure so many images and actions whilst sitting on a cushion and to keep the story flowing (in a second language) showed his mastery as a storyteller. The bare-bones stage highlighting this, and the gold screen showing how revered this sometimes bawdy form of entertainment is. (He did a gag about being the hentai professor of Kinky University - Kinki being the term for this region of the country.) It really is stand-up done sitting down.

omoshirokatta! ...funny.