important: my cute BBS has fallen under the attack of spammers T__T so I've decided to take it down. (you can still view it here if you left a comment lately and are expecting a reply from me though) I don't want to spend all day deletting spam messages. Since this blog has a LiveJournal version, from now on I'll add an LJ comment link at the end of each entry for those who want to leave comments. You can comment whether you are a member of Livejournal or not.
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Yeah, I can hear you: "Shoon, the what?!" XD I myself had no idea what that was... until a few days ago. [Taken from Wikipedia] Rakugo (落語) is a Japanese form of verbal entertainment. The rakugoka (storyteller-comedian) sits on the stage, and depicts a long and complicated comical story. Rakugo has been described as "a sitcom with one person playing all the parts".
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Internet is so amazing that I can even show you what a rakugo performance is like... and in English too! O_O
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So, anyway, you'll be wondering what on earth all this has got to do with Shoon, right? ^^ Well, it seems Shoon is a bit of a rakugo fan! Our Koon-kun is so weird! XDDD I learned thanks to Princekira (who translated and subbed this clip for me) that he likes burning incense, like old ladies do LOL ... and now this. And you know what? That makes me love him even more ...if that's possible. ^___^
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What follows is a rough -emphasis on rough XD- translation by me of a bit from the Ya-Ya-yah talk in the Daibouken concerts pamphlet. I'm not going to upload it to the album 'cause I've decided I'm only going to upload mag scans there, but if you don't have the scans (which were uploaded by Fiona to her clubbox) and want them, just leave a message and I'll upload them for you in a zipped file to MediaFire. =]
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The boys are talking about the day trip they made to Hokkaidô recently for a Ya3 show special.
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Yabu: Demo yuiitsu zannen datta no wa higaeri datta koto. Nannichi ka tomatte nonbiri... nante tabi, shitai yo ne. Demo shigoto ja muri ka. (wara)
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Yabu : The only thing I regret is that it was just a day trip. When will be the day we can take some time off, just to relax? I’d like to go on a real vacation trip, but work makes that impossible. (laughs)
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Yamashita: Da ne. Demo higaeri demo, sugoku juujitsu shita koi ichinichi datta na. Yappa tabi wa ii yo! Hikôki mo tanoshii shi. Ore, hikôki no naka de kanarazu rakugo kikunda yo ne. Sore ga meccha tanoshii yo.
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Shoon: True. However... even though it was just a day trip, we got our batteries recharged and it was a great day, wasn’t it? After all, trips are always enjoyable. Also, travelling by plane is fun as well. I always listen to rakugo on the plane. It’s very amusing.
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Yaotome: Sore, sôtô shibui yo ne.
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Hikaru: That’s a bit stiff, isn’t it?
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Yamashita: Iya, honto ni omoshiroindatte!
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Shoon: Of course not; it’s really amusing!
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Yaotome: Wakatta, jaa “Johnny’s Jr. no Daibôken!’07”, Shoon wa rakugo yarô. (wara)
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Hikaru: Alright, alright. Then in the Johnny’s Jr. Great Adventure concerts of this year you can make a “rakugo” performance. (laughs)
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Yabu: Ii ne! Orera wa sono ai da yukkuri kikaerutte iu ne. (wara)
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Yabu : Good idea! That way, while he’s doing it, we won’t have to hurry to change clothes.
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Ayukawa : Demo jissai, rakugo yaru notte muzuirashii yo. Itsuka Ya-Ya-yah con [concert] yaru toki wa, Shoon no soro koonaa [solo corner] wa rakugo ne.
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Taiyô: But “rakugo” performing actually seems very difficult. When we (Ya-Ya-yah) have another concert, Shoon should have his own “rakugo” segment.
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Yabu: “Tsuzuite wa Yamashita Shoon de Jugemu” (wara)
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Yabu: (as if he were MC-ing at the concert) “And now, Shoon Yamashita will perform Jugemu!” [Jugemu is a popular rakugo story] (laughs)
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Yamashita: Atarashii ne, sono pataan [pattern]. Demo shôjiki, concert de wa, ore mo utatte odoritai. (wara) [...]
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Shoon: Well, that would be quite an innovation but, honestly, I’d like to sing and dance at the concert too. (laughs) [...]
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I found this kind of funny and surprising because when I was reading the text and got to this part I didn't know how to read the kanji for rakugo and I was wondering what would that be. At first I thought it might be "crosswords", or something like that, because the second kanji means words, but this was totally unexpected! XD
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Also, I love how the boys tease each other during the talk. ^___^ Oh, a little more about Jugemu, the rakugo story Yabu teases Shoon with: [taken from Wikipedia too] The folktale of Jugemu is one of the most famous rakugo in Japan. It has a simple story line with the funniest part being repeating of the ridiculously long name.
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A couple could not think of a suitable name for their newborn baby boy, so the father went to the temple and asked the chief priest to think of an auspicious name. The priest suggested several names, beginning with Jugemu. The father could not decide which name he preferred, and therefore gave the baby all of the names. But one day, Jugemu falls into a lake and his parents arrive barely in time to save him as everyone had trouble reciting his name. Jugemu's full name is as follows:
Jugemu-jugemu Gokōnosurikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kūnerutokoroni-sumutokoro Yaburakōjino-burakōji Paipopaipo-paiponoshūringan Shūringanno-gūrindai Gūrindaino-ponpokopīno-ponpokonāno Chōkyūmeino-chōsuke.
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The recitation from memory of these names is a feature of the NHK children's TV programme Nihongo de Asobou (Let's Play with Japanese Language) and it seems most Japanese people know it. This man explains it all and recites Jugemu's full name, though he can't beat the girl in the next video. She's so fast her little brother doesn't even have the time to blink. LOL
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PS: To learn more about the art of rakugo, click here. And a couple of curious facts about Jugemu for videogames and anime fans like me: [from Wikipedia too] "Jugemu" (known as Lakitu in the U.S.) is also the name of an enemy character from the Super Mario Bros. series of games. Jugemu-jugemu Gokōnosurikire is also part of the chant Sasami says in the 'Pretty Sammy' OVA to transform into Pretty Sammy.
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