Laughing out loud with Atsuko Okatsuka and issues with kobinis A sudden thunderstorm couldn’t keep Tokyo’s comedy fans away from Atsuko Okatsuka’s show in Ginza’s Hulic Hall on July 16. Okatsuka was back in Tokyo this week for another run of her Full Grown tour in Japan and other new stops in Asia and Oceania. Fresh from her three, sold out shows in Manila, Okatsuka made it known to the crowd how it went down in the Philippines.
As she looked for Filipinos in her Tokyo audience, screams came from the crowd, including the very front row already giggling even before she began. “Filipinos, they laugh their lives depend on it,” she said. “Japan, you’re good but Filipinos? They laugh like Americans.
Americans laugh like there’s no health care.” The Japanese-Taiwanese comedian is arguably one of the most recognizable in her industry and it’s not just because of her signature bowl cut. Personally, I first encountered Okatsuka online, happening upon a part of her act where she was talking about some of her white friends having one new thing they can’t eat every time she sees them.
Gluten, dairy...
the list is endless and they like to report it. After a posting in Europe where allergies were taken quite seriously, a stark contrast to my more Spartan childhood in Manila where my grandmother’s reaction to allergies is exposure therapy, this joke hit pretty close to home. “My grandma can’t eat gluten anymore,” Okatsuka said, deadpan in the video.
“Did yo.