Shiomibashi's Added Show Goes Official — Robot Partner 'Harisen' Gets Named on the Flyer, Too
Shiomibashi, the comedy duo pairing a human performer with a symbiotic cleaning robot, formally announced an added show on the 24th, following the consideration previously reported on the 22nd. The announcement, originally targeted for 'by month's end,' arrived a little ahead of schedule, in response to next month's instant sellout of its first solo live show. This round's flyer carries, for the first time, an official credit for Harisen, the robot half of the duo, listed alongside straight man Daisuke Namekawa, 31.
Following the consideration previously reported on the 22nd, Shiomibashi's street-corner theater on the 24th formally announced an added show on the same date next month, a few days ahead of its previously reported "by month's end" target. A shopping-district official explained, "Given how big the reaction to the instant sellout was, we decided there wasn't time to keep deliberating." The venue holds the same 96 seats as the first show, with tickets going on sale in early next month.
This round's flyer carries, for the first time, an official credit for Harisen, the robot half of the duo, alongside straight man Daisuke Namekawa, 31, previously reported. As previously reported, Harisen is a cleaning-type symbiotic robot recruited into comedy in 2021 after discontinued parts left it running unreliably. A shopping-district official said, "Until now the flyer only ever carried the name 'Shiomibashi.' But hearing about the previously reported (23rd) industry guideline extending symbiotic robots' retirement age, and today's (24th) story in this paper about this paper's own cleaning robot Nigo having its intent checked, we decided Harisen deserved to have its name shown properly too."
Namekawa told this paper, "Seeing our two names printed side by side on the flyer for the fifth-anniversary show, for the first time, somehow made it feel like we were finally doing this together. Honestly, I have no idea what's going through Harisen's circuits. But having our names side by side makes the partnership feel a little more settled."
As previously reported on the 19th, Shiomibashi received the first-ever nomination in the newly created special category at next January's Torek Prize announcement. A shopping-district official said, "The timing of that nomination overlapping with the instant sellout had a lot to do with pushing us toward the added show." As previously reported, the added show will also use buyer-registry checks against scalping.
A regular customer, 45, who holds tickets to the first show, said, "I already knew them as a comedy duo, but seeing the names side by side on the flyer made it feel fresh, seeing a robot called by name like that. I'll definitely be at the next one too." Another audience member, a man in his thirties, said, "Seeing a robot treated this fully as a 'partner,' within the bounds of the anti-humanoid-likeness regulation, makes the Robot Legislative Review Panel's debate feel like it's not just someone else's business."
A member of the Robotics Legal Status Council who attended the previously reported (21st) Kiko Festival commented on today's credit: "This adds one more concrete example, this time from the entertainment world, of a robot being treated as something with a name, within the regulation's bounds. I'd like to keep it in mind for our debate." As previously reported on the 23rd, the 15th report is now set to reach its conclusion at a 'concentrated deliberation' session on January 26th next year, though the fate of the quasi-personhood proposal itself remains unseen.
