英米　１年
Thank you for your great presentation. I’ve never seen “Rakugo” performance that is live, neither in Japanese nor English, so I noticed how interesting it is today. Throughout your performance, I kept my brain working and using my imagination very well. Plus, I was impressed that Rakugo can tell us a lot of tips because I thought “Rakugo” was a medium for making people laugh only. Today, I learned breaking manuals is sometimes necessary from your performance. When I do a part-time-job, I’m going to make efforts to understand what customers want and do what makes them satisfied, even if that action isn’t included in the manual.

英米　２年
I had thought that RAKUGO can’t work well without Japanese unique expressions like “dajare”. And Japan has its own culture which maybe foreigners can’t understand, so I guess it is very difficult to make a story where all people can imagine or understand the situation. However, I could enjoy Mr. Kimochi’s RAKUGO so much. From today’s performance, I realized that gestures and facial expressions are very important to convey something to someone in English. From today, I’d like to try to use these tips when I hold a presentation or talk in front of many people. Thank you for your wonderful performance!!

英米　２年
Thank you for your performance. It was my first time to listen Rakugo in English. Your voice changing was so amazing! So I can imagine the situations, the emotions, and the characters. You created a world with only your body. I am learning English now, and it is hard to link my emotions to the sentences that I want to say. Your career is so surprising because you restarted learning English when you were 30 years old. But your acting in English is perfect. I want to learn from your style and how you encourage yourself before performing on stage, “I’m a genius!”

フランス　１年
I thought it is very difficult to act in front of many people, because it is embarrassing for people to express their feelings directly. However, Mr. Kimochi took laughter from the audience when he told his jokes and funny stories, and he moved many people when he told a sad story. He said that “pausing” is very important in performing and doing speeches. And I could notice the importance of the “pause” from his performance. Taking a pause to make the audience become interested and the performer can relax by doing it.

スペイン　２年
I really enjoyed your stories-I laughed a lot. I think one of the most difficult entertainment forms is comedy because we all have different senses. And when it comes to doing comedy in another language it’s a whole other world. But you put two different things, which are Rakugo and English, in one and made something that everyone can enjoy. I liked that, and I think I can learn from that. I need to put my strengths together to make something that is my own.

ドイツ　２年
I was surprised that today’s speaker Kimochi was really good at English. He speaks so fluently and his expressions were so real. Also, I am happy that his sound effects (Onomatopia) were not the way which Americans use. He used “noshi-noshi” when he talked about a lion walking. Today’s Kimochi class was very fun! It was exciting! I want people to know more about Japan through RAKUGO. I was also happy that Rakugo which has a 400 year history, is still continued by people. I want to share today’s experience to friends from now on.

国際関係　１年
Thank you for your performance. It was my first time to watch rakugo. I’ve never watched in Japanese either so I’m happy. I used to love reading novels and imagining a lot and I could use it to draw pictures but getting older, I have less opportunities to read and my imagination is gone. And common sense interrupts me to draw pictures. I still like to draw but I can’t because I’m concerned about people’s opinions and have less imagination. These days I always imitate someone’s picture to make illustrations. I hope I can have more time to read books, watch movies and spread my imagination. The books and movies must be in English. I can study English, too. It’s going to kill two birds with one stone.

留学生
Thank you for your lecture. It’s so nice of you to bring us such a wonderful performance. It’s my first time to watch rakugo in Japan and I think it’s good. In fact I’m planning to watch Rakugo later but a little worried that I wouldn’t get the laughing points of Rakugo in Japanese because sometimes I just don’t know what it wants to express. Thank you again for expressing it in a language that I can understand better than Japanese. And we have a similar performance style in China - it is called “相声”. And then I’ll go to watch rakugo in Japanese and find the differences between it and “相声”. Thank for bringing us laughter.

留学生
Watching rakugo for the first time was really fascinating. I saw a bit on Youtube before but thanks to some extra explanations I was able to enjoy it more. While I am not necessarily good at it, I like the idea of using your imagination to the utmost, of making stories that would otherwise not have much of an impact, making them much more powerful and meaningful. Great acting makes it funnier as well. Doing rakugo in English is great, because it allows foreigners such as myself enjoy this aspect of traditional Japanese culture. Thank you very much for your performance.