A segment of the Fuji Television variety show, "D No Gekijyo", was videotaped in Hawai‘i this week. The segment featured onnagata actor Saotome Taichi. An onnagata is young man who portrays women in Japanese Kabuki theatre. Taichi-san has gained popularity for his roles in his family's theatre troupe, though he also does male roles as well. Fuji Television documented Taichi's trip and perfomances which were the first outside Japan.
In today's photo, "D No Gekijyo" segment hosts and enka singers Mikawa Ken (left) and Ken Naoko (right) interview Taichi-san aboard the Star of Honolulu dinner cruise ship. This segment is scheduled to air at the end of July on Fuji TV in Japan.
Taichi-san and fellow onnagata Tachibana Daigoro made an appearance at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for the media, and drew quite a bit of attention from hotel guests and beach goers. Many of them not knowing the two in kimono were men. In many other cultures, men and boys played womens roles in their performing arts ... ancient Greeks, Shakespearean era, ancient Hawaiian hula and Japanese Kabuki. I would have got a shot of Taichi-san in costume, but was too busy running sound for one of the documentary teams.
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