英米　１年
Thank you for your very funny Rakugo performance and presentation. I was very surprised how you turned a very old Japanese tradition into something that foreigners can enjoy as well. When I translate a funny Japanese sentence into Japanese, the punchlines always seem to disappear, but not with you. I was amazed at how you made your own punchline when changing the language. I hope that I can do that when I tell stories to my friends, or one day, even my children.

英米　２年
Thank you for your presentation. Before listening to your performance. I was wondering how you would change Japanese Rakugo into English Rakugo because I think just translating Japanese into English would not be enough to make the audience laugh. Especially in Rakugo, “words” play a big role in making people laugh, so I think it is very difficult to convey the message and make the Japanese Rakugo version of “Time Noodles”, so I was glad I could hear it in English and it was interesting comparing the expressions in both languages. You said you sing, read, and watch English movies when you study English. I do the same thing when I study English, so I would like to continue doing them so my English will be as good as your English. Thanks again.

看護　１年
I listened to Rakugo in English for the first time in forever, so it was very interesting! When I was a junior high school student, I read the story about the Rakugo speaker who performed Rakugo like Mr. Kimochi. The performer was a woman so today’s guest is not the same person. I was surprised that there are some Rakugo performers who perform in English. We tend to think of Rakugo as traditional Rakugo so it cannot be expressed in foreign languages, but it can! I hope these performers spread the circle of laughter around the world with Rakugo.

留学生
There were a bunch of things happening today that I would love to talk about. But I will try to focus on what was the most interesting point for me: translation of humor. As someone who wants to become a translator, whenever I see something from very difficult culture / language translated I keep thinking how difficult it must be to adapt humor, rhymes, morals, etc. to another language (especially if the culture is very different) Of course, I am aware that a perfect translation doesn’t exist, but the effort to make country’s audience understand concepts that are so foreign is always worthy of praise, and I try to learn the most from it.

留学生
Mr. Kimochi’s seminar was one of the most interesting ones we have had this semester because it was very different from the usual academic presentations. And of cause, it was fun to watch him telling the stories and making all those funny facial expressions. It also made me think how the way we present ourselves to other people is important, and that smiling really helps when it is about social interactions. Also it was nice to watch a Rakugo presentation, something that I have never experienced before. I will definitely ‘like’ his Facebook page!