August 30, 2025: I was invited by a friend to attend the “Osaka Rakugo Performance” at the National Bunraku Theatre in Nipponbashi, Osaka. Osaka-style rakugo has a history of 300 years since its origin and has evolved along with the changing times, making it one of Osaka’s representative traditional performing arts. We were fortunate to enjoy this captivating art of storytelling from the front row of the theater. With the front-row tickets my friend had arranged, we enjoyed more than two hours of rakugo. Afterwards, the two of us went to a nearby robatayaki restaurant, where we talked about all sorts of things late into the night.