Wearing kimono and with flowers in her hair, Diane Kichijitsu (Diane Orrett) sallies forth onto the stage of AiMesse Hall in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, before a near 100 percent Japanese audience, and within seconds has them eating out of her hand.
Famed in Kansai but less well-known in Kanto, Orrett is here on invitation, to perform a rakugo story and talk about how she came to create a place in what has been traditionally a man's world. Rakugo, the Chinese characters for which mean "falling words," refers to the last line of the comic monologue, which in the West more often than not means an upbeat punch line but in Japan often leaves the uninitiated in a puzzled state of anticlimax.
Connecting with her audience with consummate ease, Orrett is conversational and gossipy, poking gentle fun at Japanese culture while never stepping over the line into rudeness or criticism. In today's story, "Wonderful Japan," fans love her skill in pointing out all the (stereo)typical things that bemuse visitors from abroad.