We held “Rakugo in English by Shinoharu Tatekawa” at Fukagawa Edo Museum Small Theater on 1 March 2018. There were sixty-one participants including seven Dutch people. Shinoharu-san came up to the stage along with the melody of a Japanese children’s song “Spring(Haru) has come”. He introduced the unique feature of Rakugo that a story is told mainly through dialogue. He explained how to use a folding fan and a cotton hand towel as props and showed briefly how to play multiple characters with change of voice tones and gestures. Then, he started his stage with two jokes and told three stories of Rakugo. During his performance, all the audience burst into laughter repeatedly.
After the performance, Mrs. Sari Roels-Sianturi, Dutch Representative Governor of De Liefde Club, expressed our gratitude and presented a bottle of Oude Jenever to him. In the reception, Shinoharu-san was surrounded by those who wanted to express their appreciation and to take photos with him.