The idea that Japanese society is an introverted culture which discourages personal expression is a huge generalization. Even outside of personal life, whole industries are built around standing apart from the crowd, and many people find their purpose in work which enables them to do so. There is no better example of this than the storied art of street performance, or daidougei (大道芸) in Japanese. You can see wide variety of dedicated street performers at parks and public spaces across Japan, entertainers who have the courage to step up and create their own audiences with skills honed over countless hours.
That’s why when I happened across a captivating street performance centered around a ping-pong-eyeball wearing, chicken-hungry waiter, I began to think about the man behind the mask. I wondered how he came to create the show which entertained me and many fellow audience members for nearly an hour on a breezy spring day in Enoshima.
I had the opportunity to speak with the man himself, Chikuriino, about his beginnings in street performance, the nuts and bolts of street performing life, his upcoming European tour, and why he has no plans of quitting his craft anytime soon.
Before reading, feel free to watch his show in the video below and get a glimpse of the charisma and humor that Chikuriino has brought to his performances in Japan and all over the world for over twenty years.
Chikuriino Performance Video
Interview
How did you get your start with street performing?
When I was 24, I was flipping through the channels on TV and stopped at a juggling performance by a French mathematician named Peter Frankl. I was mesmerized by the program, and thought, “Well I can do that!”
So I tried juggling myself, and as I got a little better at it, I became obsessed. At the time, I had been working at a rather standard job for a few years, but I started to think that I wanted to become a pro. A few years after that, I did my debut show.
When you were young, were you the kind of kid who liked to perform and show off for others?
I had tried juggling a little bit when I was in elementary school, but I never really stuck with it. I wasn’t the type of kid to actually get up in front of others. I had the dream of performing, but I just thought it was impossible.
I actually wanted to be a manga artist. I think I always wanted to do some sort of art, but I never really set my mind on it. After I started working, I wanted to be someone who made things with my hands.
So after I started juggling again as a young adult, juggling became more than a hobby, and I finally set my sights on professional street performance.
What was your debut show like?
It was in my hometown of Osaka about 20 years ago now. Of course, I was nervous! I put on the crazy eyeballs and did some juggling.
I’m not sure I was totally ready for it, but I just wanted to see what would happen. I made my first little bit of money, about 700 yen, from the three or four people who gathered to watch. I didn’t yet have that skill of drawing people in. It took me about a year to get the hang of it.
How did you go about studying and honing your craft?
Well, I had another performer who I apprenticed under for that year. He taught me some things, but it just wasn’t a very healthy relationship, especially business-wise.
Actually, that was a very unusual beginning. Most performers start practicing some skills in high school or university on their own before joining a juggling club or some type of amateur performance group. Then they usually make a show on their own and debut from there. After I went out on my own, things went much better for me, too.
What made you decide to continue performing?
About a year after I debuted, I was invited to perform in a national competition at the Fukuyama Daidougei Festival in Hiroshima. The show I made for that competition is the foundation of the show I still perform today. I ended up winning the contest. The prize money was about 32 man yen ($2500-3000 USD). That was quite a big amount for Japanese street performance contest at the time, and I realized I could keep performing for awhile.
How do you develop your show and change it over time?
Most of the show that I still perform originated from that competition about 20 years ago. I’ll change it up a bit as time goes on, but two-thirds of the show usually stays the same. I used to make balloons, or do a lot of pantomime to gather audiences, but I was conscious of not doing the same things as other performers. I think that decision has made the act what it is today.
What do you have to consider when designing the different acts of the show?
Generally, I always try to tie the whole show together as one story rather than splitting it up as separate acts. I think it’s more interesting that way.
But considering the medium and setting of the performance, you have to remember that a lot of the audience will come in and out during the show. Designing the show so that it’s easy to understand from the middle of the show is one of the challenges.
Do you have any inspirations or performers that you looked to as a reference when you made the show?
I often get told by audience members that my facial expressions remind them of Mr. Bean, and the bird gag is the same sort of slapstick as Tom and Jerry. I also really like Jim Carrey’s The Mask. So while none of these were direct inspirations, I wanted to make a show that was similarly very different from reality.
When you make a new act or part of the show, how long do you have to practice before you’re ready to perform?
For a new act, it usually takes about a week of practice. Honestly, it takes more time to make the props I need for it. Since I generally perform less on weekdays, I use that time to make props for the show.
Do you make all of the props yourself?
Some things, like the bird, are from the store. But I make customized tricks and jokes with store-bought props to make them my own.
For the four-legged man act, I made the legs myself. I had to heat and mold plastic and use metal pins to hold everything together. That definitely took the most time to make of any prop.
Have you always liked good at making things by hand?
I’ve never been a pro, but I think I have a natural inclination towards that kind of thing. I’m definitely capable of imagining something, and then coming up with a plan to make it myself.
Before becoming a performer, I was working at a steel factory and often made things there. It was easy to get materials, so I kind of made things I wanted, like a bench press, for example. That experience has turned out to be pretty valuable for my work as a performer.
Where do you usually perform in Tokyo? How does it work finding a place to perform?
I often perform in Enoshima, Yokohama Yamashita Park, and sometimes Ueno Park. There are also occasionally festivals and competitions, but these are becoming less frequent.
As for reserving a spot, it’s different in each area. For example, in Enoshima, you have to pass a yearly inspection to receive a license. Then you can apply for the days you’d like to perform up to two months in advance, and you see if you win the lottery for a spot.
Are these licenses applicable for all of Tokyo?
For Tokyo, there’s a special type of street performing license called “Heaven Artist.” If you get this license, you can apply to perform in really famous places like Yoyogi Park and Ueno Park, but hundreds of people apply at a time. Especially now while the sakura are blooming and the weather is nice, it’s quite difficult to get in. Aside from that, the huge amount of people and lack of space mean that it’s a little bit less comfortable to perform and draw a dedicated crowd.
Japan was pretty strict about large gatherings, even outdoors, during the pandemic. What was that period like for you?
I was lucky because in 2018 and 2019, my new Freddie Mercury show called Freddino had been really successful. The content of the show was about the same, but I played Queen songs and did a bit of Mercury-esque performing. I was able to save quite a bit, which ended up helping me out a lot through the corona period when I couldn’t perform. In addition to my savings, the country was providing subsidies for freelance workers, so I lived off that as well.
After corona, things gradually started to open up and there were places I could perform, but for most of 2020 and 2021 things were closed. Around the beginning of 2022, I started performing in Enoshima and other places.
Why do you like performing in Enoshima?
There aren’t many places where you can perform on weekdays, but Enoshima always has visitors regardless of the day or time. Especially now there are many foreign tourists who come on day trips from Tokyo. It’s really nice to get some American dollars or Euros at the end of a show with the exchange rate of yen being so low.
What’s the best season to perform?
Definitely Golden Week, it’s when you make the most money. In past years, I’ve been able to work like crazy the whole week, but this year looks like it’ll be a bit slower. It’s been harder for everyone since corona.
Of course, street performing doesn’t give you a stable income. In high seasons, you work hard and make enough to live through the low seasons. It’s a good way to live for me.
Do you perform abroad?
Yes, I’ve been to to Europe and performed in England, France, Belgium, and Austria. In Asia, I’ve been to China and Korea for events, as well as Thailand, Singapore, and Macau.
I like to go abroad in the summer to escape the Japanese heat, so I’ll be going to back to Europe in a couple months. I’ll be in England in June to perform at Glastonbury. Then I’ll be at a performing arts festival in Paris in July before heading to Scotland in August for the Fringe festival. So I’ll be away from Japan for most of this summer.
Where was the best place to perform abroad so far?
I think the audience reaction was the best in China. It was over ten years ago, but I vividly remember the power of the crowd in their reactions. It made for a really great show. I was able to stay in a nice hotel, and it was just a really fun trip overall.
The crowds in Thailand and Korea were also very warm and welcoming, but it was a bit too hot for my liking. But Europe is usually cool, so I’m looking forward to the upcoming trip.
For you, what is the best thing about street performing?
The best thing about street performing for me is the fact that I can take on everything myself and do what I want to do. On the other hand, that means I also have the responsibility of making and saving money. That can be hard sometimes, but I’m still making the things I want to make and performing the shows I want to perform in front of crowds of people.
There are a lot of performers who are able to turn big profits, but they all kind of do the same types of shows. Of course, I could imitate those kinds of shows and try to make more money, but that doesn’t really fit my personality. It’s an internal struggle between sticking to my own style and going with the things that will make more money. That’s how I’ve been ever since I started performing.
How would you describe the “Chikuriino” style?
I think more than anything I want to enjoy performing and not put on a kind of show that is just buying sympathy or praise from the crowd. What I means is that, in the end, street performing is the type of art where if you show people how hard you worked on something, you get more praise for it. But for me, I want my audience to enjoy my show not because they see how hard I worked on it, but just because it’s damn funny.
Humor, the idea of what is “funny,” is difficult because it can very easily be about looking down on something. At the end of the show, when the spell holding my audience and I together breaks, I don’t want to feel that I’m receiving “donations” out of sympathy. I want my show to have been so genuinely enjoyable and humorous that audience members feel we are equal, and that both sides have gained a lot of value from our time together. That’s how I would describe my style, and I want to keep performing that way as long as I live.
This interview was conducted on April 11th, 2024. It has been translated from Japanese and edited for clarity.
Learn More about Chikuriino the Japanese Street Performer
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Thanks for reading!
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