Happy New Year! 新年あけましておめでとうございます！
Hope you had some good breaks during the Christmas and New Year holidays!
As a heavily Kiwi-fied person, I am finally kicking off my work year today after the 3 weeks of summer holidays… Perhaps, it is not appropriate to call it ‘summer holidays’ as I spent the most of it in the icy cold Japan. Anyway, I feel very stagnant, and it’s about time to get on with my creative projects!
During my stay in Japan, I got to perform rakugo in English three times; twice at Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center and once with my master’s rakugo family. It was especially a huge privilege for me to perform with my rakugo family, who are basically some of the top “English Rakugo” performers in Japan.
The photo above is from the performance with my rakugo family. (From the left, Eishi, Showman, Eiraku, Ichirin, Panda, and Koraku). Eiraku (my master), Ichirin, and Koraku are the founders of the English Rakugo Association.
There are some exciting projects coming in, but one of the biggest news so far is that the rakugo-inspired artwork that was exhibited at Christchurch Art Gallery (New Zealand) and Tampere Art Museum (Finland) will be displayed at an art museum in Hiroshima, Japan! More information to follow. (If you are interested in this art project, you can read my past entry here.)
I will also resume school visits if my funding application is approved. I will probably be able to offer 5-10 free performance-workshops. Keep an eye out for this page and/ or my SNS.
There will be an open performance/ workshop at Epsom Library on Saturday, 5 April 2025 as a part of the World of Cultures celebrations.
Also, I am planning to stay in Japan for a longer period at the end of this year, and I would like to expand my performance opportunities there. Please contact me if you are interested in collaborating with me sometime between November 2025- January 2026 in Japan.
Finally, though I have said this over and over… I really want to make my YouTube work this year! Please follow my channel if you still haven’t and also give me suggestions to make it work.
Have a fantastic year, everybody!
English Rakugo NZ 
Hi there, have discovered your blog and channel, am also based in Auckland. I only discovered rakugo a few months ago from a manga (Akane Banashi) and like the artform! Hoping to be able to attend the performance in April!
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Thank you for your comment! ‘Akane Banashi’ is a good introduction to rakugo 😊 I also recommend ‘Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju’ if you still haven’t read/seen it. It’s occasionally dark, but it’s a more accurate description of the rakugo world 😊
The event in April is more like a workshop where you get to learn a bit about rakugo. I will perform a story (or possibly two) as a demonstration, though. See you there!
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