Review: Takashi Wakasugi – Welcome to Japan, Fringe 2024

“Konichiwa motherfuckers,” begins Takashi Wakasugi, and I thought it was a great start.

Welcome to Japan gives us an hour of hit-and-miss comedy, with the English haiku being a strong hit.

There’s a theme of Takashi Wakasugi winning the struggle with English in the act and my few grumbles are with that. For example, I got fed up with the way every other sentence was repeated. Takashi would bop the microphone if the audience didn’t react, but sometimes the joke was set up so that the audience would not respond, and the gag explained the weirdness back. If so, the microphone assault was done too often, which got annoying.

I’m much more confident in using a Japanese loo now. Which is a bonus.

Tone

I think Welcome to Japan was crafted for an Australian audience. That’s where Takashi Wakasugi now lives and practices. Heck, he’s been on TV there.

There are scat jokes, elephant penis, and some aggressive “use your brain more” demands that I was less keen on, preferring higher brow and kinder diplomacy, but perhaps that’s how you command attention in comedy clubs in Perth.

However, there are also clever musings on what a ‘pizza sandwich’ might be. If I had had a beer, I’d have argued that pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings between two slices of toast is just a sandwich, but I let that one go. Equally, there are two funny and intelligent hierarchies that hark back to following the rules and adapting to situations.

It’s also a late set and just off George Square Gardens. We definitely had some young men at the back of the room whose confidence was larger than their sobriety, so perhaps Perth-tailored gags were the right call!

What to expect

Takashi Wakasugi has slides! PowerPoint slides. Imagine my delight even if this isn’t a full-on Dave Gorman-style combination of visuals and storytelling. Takashi uses pictures more sparingly.

There’s plenty of audience work as the Japanese comedian divides the crowd into different tribes of pizza eaters, finds out our jobs, and invites us to scroll through our photo album. I rather liked the engagements, especially the use of mobile phones.

The act is about how Japanese and Western cultures differ and how strange and inconsistent English can be. Don’t I know it! English is my first and only language, yet it often wholly defeats me.

Overall

Out of curiosity, I would go see Takashi Wakasugi again, and I hope that the observational aspects of the routine have grown and the lad humour has diminished.

I liked hearing about the differences between Japanese culture and how time in Australia has changed the comedian. But I don’t need a professional comedian to give me fart jokes.