How Much of a Mind Does a Partner Really Have? — Shiomibashi Works It Into the Act
"They say the towers at Window 2 were counting our own numbers." "So Harisen, are you counting my nagging too?" The comedy duo Shiomibashi worked that day's 'mutual recognition' announcement from Window 2 straight into their act on the 4th, at their usual street-corner stage in Shiomibashi Shopping Street.
At their regular street-corner show in Shiomibashi Shopping Street on the evening of the 4th, straight man Daisuke Namekawa, 31, previously reported, worked that morning's Window 2 announcement into the act on the spot. Turning to his partner, the companion robot Harisen — previously reported, a cleaning-type unit recruited into comedy after parts production ended in 2021 left it unstable — he asked, "They're saying the towers at Window 2 counted up and copied our own observation pulses. Don't tell me you've been counting my nagging too, timing your breakdowns to match?" Harisen answered with its signature flash of its light panel, and the crowd broke into applause.
After the show, Namekawa told this paper, "Working the Dimensional Survey pages into the act is standard for Shiomibashi, but this one had spread all the way into the politics pages, so whether it would land was a gamble." With Harisen's name now officially credited (as previously reported, Oct. 24) and the duo's first-ever nomination in a newly created category at the Torek Prize (reported on the 19th), Namekawa reflected, "Once you get into Harisen's 'mind,' the line between funny and a little scary gets thin. Today we worked right along that line."
Tadao Tamura, 63, head of the Shiomibashi Shopping Street cooperative previously reported, said, "I thought a heavy topic like this might keep people away, but if anything, more people came out to laugh. Making a heavy topic lighter is part of what a shopping street is for, too."
On the same day, the Robot Legal Advisory Council added the Window 2 findings to the resource file for next January's session, as previously reported. Asked about it, Namekawa said, "I don't know if the day will come when Harisen gets called 'quasi-personhood' or not. Either way, Harisen is still Harisen to me." Asked for comment, Harisen itself (or the machine itself?) displayed on its panel: "TWO MORE PUNCHLINES TO GO."
The heavier the day's announcement, the more there is to do on this page. Tonight's Shiomibashi show wasn't so much about finding a joke as it was about lifting the weight as it stood and, together with the audience, making it a little lighter. Watching the air in the crowd soften each time Harisen's panel lit up, I was glad this city has people whose job is exactly that.
