KYOTO INTERNATIONAL FILM AND ART FESTIVAL

Comedians Quiz Mallgoers on SDGs at Midday Event

2019/10/19　Event

20 minutes outside of central Kyoto, the AEONMALL Kyoto Katsuragawa is host to a number of events at this year’s festival. At midday on Saturday KIFF involved the public directly in their 2019 festa with a quiz dedicated to raising awareness of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

60 seats for those gathered at the mall were far from enough with hundreds standing behind on the mall’s first floor, while hundreds more looked on down from above from the open mezzanine on the second floor.

The host Kikuchi Usotsukanai, surprised and pleased by the huge turnout, began by asking if the audience had heard of SDGs by encouraging them to raise their hands. Only a few did, giving him the opportunity to introduce the concept.

7 Yoshimoto comedians who had just arrived in Kyoto in the morning took to the stage to entertain and educate the crowd simultaneously. Among them were Panther, a comedy trio consisting of Ryōtaro Kan, Satoshi Mukai and Takahiro Ogata that have featured in a number of Japanese television shows.

Two other comedy duos joined them, Miki (Asei and Kousei), and Reiwa Kita-Minami, consisting of Ryosuke Kouno and Syorei Nomura.

The event first explained the basics of the SDGs by introducing the 17 goals of the programme, aided by a large TV screen flashing each goal.

With lots of families and young children in the ensembled crowd, the comedians picked out kids to ask them their names and draw them in to the quiz, much to the amusement and support of the crowd. The event concluded after 40 minutes with the crowd showing huge admiration to the stage!