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Essay

Please invite us back soon

By 桂三輝

After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, along with the grief and worry that one inevitably feels in the face of such a large-scale disaster, we in the comedy and entertainment industry felt particularly helpless.

Most of us felt strange going up on stage and trying to make people smile and laugh. There was a whole set of mixed emotions in the entertainment community. Was this the time to be entertaining people? Was it not disrespectful to those who were suffering to be going up on stage and joking around? If we were not doing that, then what should we be doing? What else could we do? In many cases, we had no choice — live shows, TV programs and events were simply cancelled.

But then, an interesting thing happened. The questions changed into statements. Entertainers began to say, "There is nothing else we can do …" and "Now more than ever …" What we had questioned as appropriate or not transformed into our duty to continue.

As soon as it became feasible, manzai comedians, rakugo storytellers and other entertainers began to go to the disaster areas to entertain. Those who went in the early days said that while audiences couldn't bring themselves to smile or laugh, they thanked the entertainers profusely after the shows.

I have tremendous respect for the artists who faced those circumstances. It must have been a very difficult thing, to face an audience who was obviously grieving, to have to watch one's words so as not to add insult to injury or hurt people's feelings, and yet to try to maintain some semblance of a "normal," bright, happy, funny performance. To go up there and be "appropriately" solemn would have served no purpose at all. Striking this balance must have been very challenging.

One of Japan's most famous manzai teams, the husband-wife combination Miyagawa Daisuke and Hanako, have taken teams of young comedians to entertain at affected areas at every opportunity since the disaster struck. In June, I had the opportunity to join them for two shows in Iwate Prefecture. It was a great lesson in the power of laughter. While there may have been an underlying heaviness in the air before the show, the audience was also very much ready to laugh and be entertained. More than anything, they had come to see Masters Daisuke and Hanako, who are truly two of Japan's most beloved comedians.

On the morning of March 11, the very day the earthquake struck, Masters Daisuke and Hanako received a prestigious award for their contribution to Japanese culture from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. They were both truly struck by the fateful timing, took it as a sign, and have made it a mission of their lives to, little by little, bring smiles back to the faces of people who have little to smile about now.

Masters Daisuke and Hanako finish their show with these words: "Entertainers usually hope to give you the best day ever. In this case, we hope that today is the worst day, and that each day after this gets just a little bit better, and a little bit better, and a little bit better. Please invite us back soon." Words from the bottom of the hearts of two true living national treasures.


Shukan ST: June 24, 2011

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