Fantastic show! Learned a lot about Japanese traditional instruments and got to enjoyed the music and the musicians. The show offered an unforgettable experience filled with amazing musical pieces, history and humor. Would definitely recommend it to everyone who wants to experience Japanese culture in depth.

I went to the Zakuro show in December. The musicians are very talented and welcoming, and everyone working at the show is very accommodating with the guests. The show is a good starting point if you want to see and hear some traditional Japanese instruments played along with explanations of how they are played or their origins. However, I wished the event focused more on the musicians playing (which was about 30% of the alleged 60-minute event) and less on the talking. The host translates the explanations of the musicians about the instruments from Japanese into English (which is fine), but spends too much time (on multiple occasions, even during the show) trying to sell more stuff, like advertising their other show, the merchandise they sell at the venue, their YouTube channel or asking the audience to leave good reviews. I understand that the musicians need publicity to keep growing and support to keep playing, but there are other less predatory ways of doing that. It was really hard for me to enjoy the moment and the music with someone repeatedly asking to spend money mid-show. The host also tries to engage with the audience (which in theory, is fine). However, she would ask questions like "Which places of Japan have you visited?". Some was intended to tie the answers back to the show (e.g. origin of the instruments), but a lot of time was spent on trying to engage the audience that could have been spent actually listening to the music. In general, I had the impression that the host was leading the show, telling the musicians what to say and when, at times subtly interrupting them. At one point the host asked the audience to guess the age of the koto player. She’s 25 but looks younger, and someone in the crowd yelled out “15”. Watching a skilled professional get reduced to an age guessing game was uncomfortable and completely out of place. It also made me wonder if this is something the host asks at every show. If so, that means the musician is repeatedly put in a position where strangers publicly announce how young they think she looks. That’s not a harmless bit of banter. It chips away at how seriously she’s treated onstage and forces her to hear other people’s perceptions of her appearance over and over. Many musicians, especially young women, work hard to build a career and shouldn’t have to put up with commentary that undercuts her professionalism. If the goal was to build rapport with the audience, there are far better ways to do it without putting a performer in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. I'm leaving three starts because I still want to support the musicians, but seriously, the host doesn't deserve the three starts and should really reconsider some of her choices. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't visit but find traditional music concerts instead.

One of the best experiences in Tokyo! We were able to enjoy the beautiful melody of traditional japanese instruments and also learning about their history, in a very intimate performance. Ideal for people who love music.

This was an incredible experience that anyone and everyone should try to see when visiting Tokyo. The music was incredible and the explanations of the instruments, music, and history make the experience so much richer. I can't recommend this highly enough.