Katsura Sunshine in London in his self-made denim kimono
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Katsura Sunshine – Canadian comic teller of traditional Japanese Rakugo stories, who starts playing his last eight shows at the Leicester Square Theatre in London this week and then hightails it for New York shows in November.
Sunshine lives half his year in Tokyo and half in Camden Town in London. He always wears a kimono in the street and, usually, a bowler hat. He tells me:
Sunshine at the Edinburgh Fringe
“I remember the first time I tried to get into a pub in Edinburgh wearing my kimono after a show and they refused me entry, saying: No fancy-dress!
“The guy was wearing a kilt, which looked pretty fancy to me.
“In Canadian English, we say ‘costume’ not ‘fancy dress’, so I actually didn’t know what he was talking about until later.
“To Canadians, ‘fancy’ just means ‘special’, so I thought he was asking me to wear something more boring.”
Good thing no Pow Wow Fancy Dancers tried to get into the pub or the man in the kilt might have really become confused !