Katsura Sunshine

Katsura Sunshine is a Canadian-born comedian who began his career in theater with ancient Greek plays. In 1995, he produced his version of Aristophanes' The Clouds in Toronto, where it ran for 15 months before touring the rest of Canada.

He then traveled to Japan, where he studied Japanese performance art. After working as a teacher for 5 years, he decided to try his hand at rakugo, a form of humorous Japanese performance with very specific rules. Equipped with a fan and a towel, the storyteller sits on a cushion, drawing on his or her memory to tell stories to the audience. The humor of these shows lies in the unexpected punch line of the story, hence the name rakugo, which means "words with a punchline". In 2009, he was accepted as an apprentice to storyteller Katsura Sanshi (now known as Katsura Bunshi). After his three-year apprenticeship, he officially became a storyteller.

He performs internationally, offering rakugo in English and French. He recently returned to London to perform, and is coming to present his art on the stages of Japan Expo!

You can catch the actors on stage on Sunday, July 14 at Japan Expo!