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April 03, 2025
 

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RAKUGO

As the founder of Z Rakugo, Edanoshin Katsura is introducing the traditional storytelling form to younger audiences by blending it with club visuals and electronic music.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 22, 2025
Edanoshin Katsura: ‘Rakugo and techno are both about rhythm and groove’
A 23-year-old entertainer is redefining the Japanese comedic storytelling tradition for Gen Z by introducing elements of techno and underground youth culture.
Katsura Yonemaru
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2024
Oldest active rakugoka Katsura Yonemaru IV dies at 99
Katsura had led Rakugo Geijutsu Kyokai, a rakugoka association, for more than two decades.
Bajaku Yoshiwara, a former pupil of "rakugo" storyteller Sanyutei Enka IV, speaks to reporters on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2024
Rakugo storyteller ordered to pay damages over power harassment
Bajaku Yoshiwara, who was studying the art of traditional Japanese storytelling under Sanyutei Enka IV at the time, sought ¥3 million in compensation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 27, 2022
Diane Kichijitsu: ‘Human interactions provide plenty of comedic material’
The male-dominated world of 'rakugo,' traditional Japanese comic storytelling, has welcomed a British woman who's in on the joke.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 4, 2019
Spectral sightings at Zenshoan Temple
Tokyo's Yanaka district ghosts are back to haunt the public via rakugo storyteller Sanyutei Encho's collection of spooky paintings.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 3, 2019
Japanese kamikiri performer's elaborate pieces draw interest from readers of Nagoya newspaper
Hayashiya Niraku is a 51-year-old practitioner of kamikiri, a Japanese performance art that involves cutting silhouette images out of a plain piece of paper based on requests from the audience. Adding to the challenge, artists create their pieces without drawing an outline beforehand.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2018
Young operators turn to social media to revive Tokyo's sento neighborhood bathhouses
Younger operators of sento (public bathhouses) in Tokyo are breathing new life into the facilities, which have long helped residents in communities feel refreshed and relaxed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2017
Tokyo's Kabutocho financial district gets creative in bid to revive its quiet streets
It's a Monday night in late November and Ryutei Ichiya, a kimono-clad 34-year-old rakugo comic raconteur, is performing a skit in front of a crowd of over 100.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2016
'Rakugo' comedy no joke for students keen to hone English skills
Japanese tend to be known for their shyness and stoic demeanor. But as Japanese companies increasingly think more globally, workers are feeling the need to communicate and express themselves clearly in front of people of various nationalities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 14, 2016
Shinoharu Tatekawa makes sure that 'rakugo' isn't lost in translation
Comic Shinoharu Tatekawa hopes to win over some new fans this month when he performs a rakugo set in English.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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