Welcome Strangers to Japan 見知らぬ人 ようこそ関空へ！！

On February 15th, the Pirates of the Dotombori
(www.piratesofthedotombori.com)
along with some loyal
fans went to the Kansai International Airport (KIX) at noon.  We went
with no suitcases and no tickets.  We went to bring some smiles to
complete strangers.  We had with us bouquets of flowers, takoyaki
stuffed toys, balloons, a 3 mete-long "Welcome To Osaka" sign and
general "Welcome" and "We Missed You" signs.  At the airport we got
first and last names off of the car driver pick-up signs.  We then put
those names on our signs and welcomed those same people to Japan.

2/15（日）12:00PM、
パイレーツ・オブ・道頓堀は忠実なファン達と共に
スーツケースも航空券も持たずに関西国際空港へ。
見ず知らずの人達を笑わせるためです。
花束・たこ焼きのヌイグルミ・風船、「大阪へようこそ！」と書かれた3メートルの
巨大サイン、「ようこそ」「やっと会えた！」等の紙のサインを用意しました。
関空では待機中の運転手たちが掲げているネームボードから名前を選び、
その名前をパイレーツが用意した歓迎用サインに使ったのです。

Upon getting to the airport, we broke out markers and pens to decorate
the signs.  We spread out the 3 meter sign on the floor to color it.
We took careful consideration of the ink going through the paper and
onto the floor.  We thought the Japanese security would find some
reason to stop us and we didn't want to get busted leaving marks on
their floor.   We prepared signs in English and Japanese.

まず空港に着いた後、マーカーやペンで歓迎用サインを用意しました。
床に幅3メートルの紙を広げて色塗りしたのですが、インクが床に染みないよう
最新の注意を払いました。
床に染みを作ったせいで警備員が止めに入り逮捕されてしまうかもと思ったのです。
サインは日本語・英語を用意しました。

After checking the arrival board full of flights, we chose a flight
coming in from London as our target.  We then needed to get some
names.  The first few flights that came in were from China and South
Korea.  We decided since it was our first time surprising people like
this, we choose to stick with western names we could easily read, and
if those people asked us later why we welcomed them, we would have a
better chance explaining ourselves to them.

その後、到着便情報を確認。ロンドンからのフライトをターゲットに選びました。
中国・韓国からのフライトもあったのですが、実際これは初めての試みでもあり、
読みやすい欧米人の名前を選ぶことにこだわったのです。
また、歓迎される理由を聞かれた場合にも英語で説明しやすいからです。

We got in position with all of our gifts and signs.  Security then
sent over their best english speaker who told us to stop using our 3
meter sign.  "it is too long" she said.  I pleaded with her and we
negotiated that we would fold it up while we waited, and when our
friend came, we had 10 seconds to open it.

全員がそれぞれの配置につきました。
すると･･･なんと、英語が話せる警備員が来てしまい、
「長すぎます。」と言われてしまいました。巨大サインは撤収するようにとのこと。
彼女にお願いし、待機中は折りたたんでおく、友達が出てきた時に10秒間だけ
開くことで何とか交渉成立しました。

Thanks to IMPROV EVERYWHERE for the great idea. Check them out at www.improveverywhere.com

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Pirates
• comedy
• improv
• sketch
• osaka
• japan
• kansai
• airport
• welcome
• surprise
• dotombori
• 日本
• 大阪
• 関空
• パイレーツ・オブ・道頓堀

[HoshiChips56]

Dr. Brian is a dick XD

[Magic1Million]

SO wonderful! Very positive and funny!

[junkienet]

Love the idea !!!! I wish I had this when I went to Japan.... Maybe I should do it in Brisbane ??

[takam1968]

we need it always,

[tmonkeypunch]

Dr. Brian was lame.

[Diminished5]

Keep up what you guys do, I wish I could join in lol ^_^

[davidengine17]

lol, Dr. Brian is lame. Ive been in Japan for last 4 months, and ive been looking 4 ppl as crazy as you all, but now i am returning to the US in a week and half. :(

[seamonkeywater]

I guess Dr. Brian doesn't like surprises or flowers?

[n07w4tU7hnk]

KiX! all right! cant wait till a chance to see you guys perform / this was a great idea

i hope you are there when we get back from the states ^^ Rock On ! this was just an awesome idea! confusing the heck out of my J spouse tho hahaa ^^v Brilliant (and only in Japan can you still do such at airports)