Regional performers in Japan bridge language gap
Storytellers, puppeteers adapt to visiting tourists
OSAKA, Japan - As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approach, attempts are being made to introduce traditional performing arts in kamigata (the Kansai region) to the increasing number of foreign tourists to the area.
Performers consider the inflow of foreign visitors a good opportunity to cultivate new fans of kamigata’s traditional arts, such as rakugo storytelling and bunraku puppet dramas.
On Sept. 28, about 70 audience members burst into laughter when Shofukutei Ginpei, 51, a rakugo storyteller, used a folding fan instead of chopsticks to noisily slurp up udon noodles. His performance was part of a vaudeville-type show at the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living in Osaka, a place popular with foreign tourists for recreating the look of a town in the Edo period (1603-1867). Rakugo storytelling in English, Chinese and Korean was being conducted there for the first time.
Ginpei, who has South Korean roots, performed the classic rakugo story “Toki Udon” in Korean. It is about a customer who conspires to get out of paying for udon noodles.
Katsura Jakki, 49, gave a performance in Chinese of “Dobutsuen” (The zoo), a story about a man who becomes the talk of the town after donning a tiger pelt. Katsura Asakichi, 48, performed the same story in English. Both renditions used humorous body language to clearly convey the story.
“It was my first time watching rakugo. The way the performer eats udon made me laugh,” said a 26-year-old tourist from South Korea.
In addition to rakugo, visitors to the museum can also enjoy bunraku and Kyogen, a form of traditional theater that developed as a comic intermission between noh acts. An estimated 360,000 foreigners visited the museum last fiscal year, an about 35-fold increase from around 2010, when the museum launched a popular attraction in which visitors can don kimono and take pictures in front of the historic town.
Unlike bunraku, which can be enjoyed visually, rakugo is a storytelling art and therefore difficult for foreigners to enjoy. Many even leave in the middle of performances. The project on Sept. 28 featuring rakugo storytellers performing in foreign languages was envisioned as a way to overcome this language barrier.
“Rakugo’s comic essence is universal. I’d like to convey to people overseas how funny rakugo is,” said Ginpei, who has been performing rakugo in Seoul.
As for noh, many measures are being taken to help people better understand storylines.
The Yamamoto Noh Theater in Osaka developed an app that displays English subtitles on smartphones or tablet devices. The theater had been displaying English or Chinese subtitles on a screen beside the stage, but the new app offers added benefits such as allowing English subtitles to be accessed at other theaters as well.
“We’ve received positive feedback from foreigners about this app,” an official of the theater said. “We’ll work harder to convey information in foreign languages to cultivate new fans.”
Subtitles in three languages — Chinese, Korean and English — were displayed above the stage during a joint performance featuring bunraku puppetry and musume gidayu — female shamisen three-stringed lute players — at the Osaka Museum of History in the city on Saturday.
The performance will be a kind of test run to determine the proper display speed and amount of subtitles. After the show, the museum will listen to opinions about the system from travel agency employees, students from overseas and audience members chosen from the public.
“I want to know which part of my performance foreigners are interested in,” said Hinafumi Toyozawa, one of the musume gidayu shamisen players. THE JAPAN NEWS