From the Development of Pepper to “Too Fine” and “30 People Who Will Change the World”… The Miracle of Ayako Kanisasarea

“Toei Shinjuku line, departing …… poo~n!”

The train fell with a clattering sound.

This was a scene from the annual year-end comedy program “The too detailed to convey” (Fuji Television), performed by Ayako Kanisasarea (29). Ayako Kanisasarea, 29, is a regular on the show, which has become popular for its mimicry of the sounds of railroad crossings and train departures, and of Hideki Togi, a gagaku player, wearing a raven hat and dressed as a gagaku player playing the sho (a traditional Japanese court music instrument). Last August, such a minor comedian was selected by “Forbes JAPAN” as one of the “30 Under 30,” 30 people under 30 who will change the world.

He said, “I am sure that ‘changing the world’ means that I should spread Gagaku around the world. Since I was chosen by Forbes JAPAN, I thought I should send out a message to the world… I uploaded one video in English, but it is not easy (for viewers to get to the video). No one searches for “gagaku” in English (laughs). Shakuhachi is known overseas, but I think that is because the concept of Zen has spread in the West. So I think that if “MIYABI” spreads, Gagaku will also spread a little. I wonder if it will spread like “MOTTAINAI. Hmmm… (laughs)”

She speaks slowly and smilingly in a small voice, in an atmosphere that is completely different from the expressionless and brusque manner of the comedian Ayako Kanisasarea, who has the air of an office worker at an ordinary company.

I’m a quiet person by nature. I have a quiet voice. At first, I tried my best to fit in with the comedian-like atmosphere of the people around me. I would say things like, “I have to talk a lot at drinking parties,” or “When someone makes a joke, I have to make sure I get the joke. But I couldn’t speak loudly or raise my voice too much. I thought I wasn’t cut out for this, and at one point I almost gave up on the world of comedy.

Being a gagaku performer is a path that allows me to quietly perform comedy in my own way.

He had wanted to become a comedian since junior high school and started a comedy club at his high school. While still in school, he entered the Watanabe Entertainment training school and became a Watanabe Entertainment comedian. However, he could not keep up with the groove of the comedians. He was looking for “a way to do comedy quietly in his own way,” and that is how he came across the Gagaku material.

When I was a member of Watanabe, there was a one-minute live performance, and I used sho to see what I could do, and it was a hit. That was the beginning. I made the costume myself by piecing together felt from Daiso. I even won a prize at a student comedy competition with it. I started doing it on YouTube because I thought it suited me better than doing it live.

A member of the “Pepper” development team

In fact, she has another face. She is a member of the Pepper application development team. Pepper is the humanoid robot known as “Pepper-kun” that greets customers when they enter a SoftBank group store, saying “Welcome! After graduating from college, she chose to find a job. She chose to work after graduating from college because, “I couldn’t continue being a comedian unless I had a decent income.

She says, “I chose engineering for my job because it would give me more time to do comedy. However, I wanted to work in a place where I could make use of my liberal arts background and my comedic background, so I changed jobs to a company that developed the Pepper application. There, I was able to do things like creating scenarios. I can create scenarios, such as Pepper’s lines. Actually, I’m the one who comes up with the ideas. When you talk to Pepper in the children’s Pepper app, I think you will hear lines that I have thought up. Pepper users in the world may be talking to me indirectly (laughs).

A desire to spread Gagaku to the world

In 2018, he participated in the pin art competition “R-1 Guranpuri” (now “R-1 Grand Prix”). She became a finalist with flying colors, and also gained popularity for her “the too detailed monomania”. To the casual observer, it looked like he was having a smooth sailing career, both in his work and his art.

But he was having trouble blending in with the other comedians. The sho has to be heated on a stove in order to make sound, but during live performances I was always warming it up in the corner of the hall, and I would go home without talking to anyone ……. I thought that maybe there was no place for me here, so I looked for a place in music. I started to enjoy practicing shō during my free time at COVID-19 crisis, and that’s when I decided to study at an art university.

Boldly, Ayako Kanisasarea applied to Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. However, she passed the entrance exam at the very first attempt, which is what makes her so extraordinary. She is currently a first-year student in the Gagaku Department of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. There are 20 students in the department per year, but only 5 Gagaku majors in the fourth grade. She barely has one classmate in her grade, as two students entered for the first time in years. It is too minor a world.

If the other one had been a jerk, I would have been in trouble, but fortunately he was a good person (laughs). But I am worried about the future of Gagaku at this rate. Generally speaking, there are no opportunities for people to go and listen to Gagaku as entertainment, so there is no work for performers. There are performances at wedding ceremonies, but there are very few.

Having learned about the current state of Gagaku at university, he hopes to become a bridge between Gagaku and the general public, even if only a little.

I hope to continue with my current style of comedy entertainment. I think there is quite a synergistic effect. I hope to use the Internet to communicate with people overseas and expand the opportunities for Gagaku. Eventually, I would like to increase the number of jobs for gagaku players overseas, for example. I think that is why I was selected by Forbes.

This is exactly the kind of statement that makes her sound like a person who will “change the world. She is a talented lady who has shown great performance in all genres she has stepped into, including comedy, gagaku, and engineering. However

I am not the type of person that people imagine me to be. Basically, I want to sleep all the time. I am naturally lazy, so I need to be in an environment where I have to work hard. However, I am always surrounded by good people who help me a lot. For example, they procured good instruments for me when I took the entrance exam for the art college, and they gave me information about the entrance exam. My husband also helps me a lot (we got married in 2017). I feel like I manage to survive thanks to the help of many people. I am just doing my best to adapt to the environment created for me by the people around me.

Ayako Kanisasarea actually has a surprisingly low self-esteem. This is also part of her charm, but she may actually be changing the world before long, without even realizing it.