Storyteller holds 'rakugo' tour for children in Iraq

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010

CAIRO (Kyodo) "Rakugo" comic storyteller Shofukutei Kakusho staged some traditional comedy routines for children in war-scarred Iraq over the weekend.

Comic troupe: "Rakugo" comic storyteller Shofukutei Kakusho poses with Iraqi children during his visit to a refugee camp in the Kurdish autonomous region on Saturday. COURTESY OF ENTERTAINERS WITHOUT BORDERS / KYODO PHOTO

Kakusho, 50, heads the Osaka-based nonprofit organization Entertainers Without Borders. Together with other members of the NPO he performed rakugo and magic shows Saturday and Sunday at refugee camps and elementary schools in and around the Kurdish autonomous region of Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq, according to Fumikazu Nishitani, head of a citizens' group that accompanied the troupe.