JLfest 2022

KOBANASHI
Japanese Comic Joke Telling Competition

KOBANASHI are short comical jokes that RAKUGO (Japanese sit-down comedy) storytellers tell to warm up the audience before they start telling the main story. Some of them can be as short as just 2 lines.

Objective

A joke usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, and ends in a punch line. It requires not only a good mastery of wordplay, and some cultural or general knowledge understanding but also the ability to deliver a punch line effectively.

The competition aims at enhancing not only the confidence in public speaking among Japanese language speakers but also their appreciation for the Japanese language and culture through KOBANASHI, comic jokes in Japanese.

It also encourages learners to be mindful of the diverse background, knowledge levels, interests, and attitudes of the audience.

KOBANASHI Stories

Contestants are to select one of the 10 KOBANASHI stories for their performance in this competition,

RESULT ANNOUNCEMENT

In this inaugural competition, 23 entries were received and one of them was disqualified. A total of 11 international judges were invited to screen the entries. They were from different spectrums of society, namely Japanese language teachers, company employees, housewives, and students from university, high school, and primary school.

The festival organizers also wish to convey their deepest gratitude to Professor HATASA Kazumi (Purdue University, USA), Kokusai Kobanashi Godo Happyoukai, and the Japan Foundation, London for their cooperation and valuable advice in this competition.