KITAKYUSHU -- Like sales and showmanship? If you like bananas, too, then there is a school just for you.
Kitakyushu's Moji Port is said to be the birthplace of "banana no tatakiuri," a sales method using performers to sell bananas at low prices. A school there teaches the techniques that used to be regularly seen in places selling the fruit.
In the performance, a seller entertains shoppers with funny phrases, tapping a stick or other implement on a platform, and offers bananas at low prices.
The school at Moji Port has been running every year since 2007. This year, classes began on July 25 at the Moji Lifelong Learning Center in Kitakyushu and will be held about twice a month through November. On that Saturday, nine students ages 9 to 82 participated.
Students learn the history of banana no tatakiuri and verbal performances.
Before World War II, bananas from Taiwan were unloaded at Moji Port. It is said that banana no tatakiuri was started by street vendors who wanted to sell the fruit that had ripened during transport.
"Let's learn with a smile," said Kenzo Imamura, the head of the school.
Members of the committee to preserve the Moji Port banana no tatakiuri did their performances while wearing masks.
The students practiced phrases such as, "My bana-chan are first class" and "C'mon and buy these!"
"I want to learn verbal performances soon," said a 48-year-old woman from Kitakyushu, "and demonstrate them at an event held at the hotel where I work."
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