Foreign tourists to Kyoto often end up in a bubble of tour buses and traditional culture shows (five minutes of bunraku, five minutes of flower arranging, etc.), while those looking to break out and entertain themselves like the locals can run into language barriers.
Yoshimoto Kogyo, the Osaka-based talent agency and media company that manages most of the comics on Japanese television, will soon offer those tourists another alternative: live comedy and other performances with English subtitles at the newly renamed and refurbished Yoshimoto Gion Kagetsu theater near Kyoto's landmark Yasaka Shrine.
The 502-seat theater first opened its doors in 1958 as the Gion Kaikan and is also used for film screenings, as well as the Gion Odori (Gion Dance) in November, where generations of foreign tourists have watched performances by maiko (apprentice geisha). In its new incarnation as the Gion Kagetsu, it will first host what Yoshimoto calls "preopening" shows, beginning with nightly programs (without subtitles) from May 3 to 5 for the Golden Week holiday crowd and continuing with weekend shows from May 7 to 28.