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OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL 2026 Draws 73,658 Attendees, Cirque du Soleil’s First Clown Auditions in Japan

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Internationally Acclaimed Performers Bring Laughter Beyond Language Barriers to Osaka, Building on the Momentum of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai

Osaka, Japan, 20th Oct 2026 — Bringing together internationally acclaimed performers and productions recognized at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL 2026 celebrated the universal language of laughter in Osaka’s Minami district from October 10 to 12. The international comedy festival showcased nonverbal comedy that transcends language barriers, while a program held in conjunction with the festival saw Cirque du Soleil hold its first-ever clown auditions in Japan. Organized as part of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City’s efforts to sustain the momentum generated by Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, the festival welcomed a total of 73,658 attendees over three days. 

OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL 2026 Draws 73,658 Attendees, Cirque du Soleil's First Clown Auditions in Japan

Organized by Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City and the Osaka Cultural Arts Project Executive Committee, the three-day festival took place at Namba Square and SPACE14 on the 14th floor of Shinsaibashi PARCO. Centered on nonverbal comedy, the program brought together performers and productions that have earned international recognition, offering audiences from Japan and abroad the chance to enjoy comedy without language barriers. The event was managed by Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese entertainment company and talent agency.

Bringing the Energy of Expo 2025 to Osaka’s Cultural Scene

OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL is part of the Osaka International Cultural Arts Project, an initiative designed to build on the international attention generated by Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, and sustain it through ongoing cultural and tourism exchanges.

The inaugural festival was held during Expo 2025. For its second edition, the festival took place in Minami, one of Osaka’s major entertainment and shopping districts, presenting three days of free street performances.

The festival sought to share Osaka’s distinctive comedy culture—traditionally represented by manzai, a form of Japanese double-act comedy, and rakugo, a traditional form of comic storytelling—with audiences around the world through physical and nonverbal comedy.

Festival Highlights and Attendance

– Total attendance: 73,658 over three days
– Street performances: Namba Square, October 10–12 (free admission)
– Theater performances: SPACE14, 14th floor of Shinsaibashi PARCO
・CHALLENGE: October 10, with two performances
・SKIT COMEDY SHOW: October 11
– Program held in conjunction with the festival: Cirque du Soleil Casting auditions, October 7–9

Internationally Acclaimed Performers Take the Stage

Cirque du Soleil Holds Its First-Ever Clown Auditions in Japan

As part of a program held in conjunction with the festival, Cirque du Soleil Casting conducted auditions in the clown and circus act categories. This marked the first time the company had held clown auditions in Japan.

Charlie Burrows, who oversees casting for all of Cirque du Soleil’s resident shows, traveled from Las Vegas to attend the auditions and took part in the opening ceremony on the festival’s first day. Reflecting on the performers he saw in Osaka, he said, “I saw so many wonderful performers in Osaka.”

 

THE TOKYO IDIOTS, Featuring Britain’s Got Talent Finalist TONY

THE TOKYO IDIOTS invite audience members onto the stage for a coordinated comedy routine.

 

THE TOKYO IDIOTS, a comedy unit featuring TONY (Tonikaku Akarui Yasumura), WES-P and GASSY (Koikuchi Ichikawa), took to the center stage at Namba Square.

TONY reached the finals of Britain’s Got Talent in 2023, while WES-P has appeared on Got Talent programs in more than 10 countries and regions. The trio have also appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the world’s largest performing arts festivals, and received the “Sea of Laughter Award” at the Busan International Comedy Festival in South Korea.

Their coordinated routines, including a segment that brought audience members onto the stage, filled Namba Square with laughter and applause.

 

CHALLENGE: Five-Star-Rated Nonverbal Comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 CHALLENGE, a nonverbal comedy production that received a five-star review at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

 

At SPACE14 on the 14th floor of Shinsaibashi PARCO, the festival presented CHALLENGE, a nonverbal comedy production that received a five-star review during the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Written, directed and produced by Akira Ishida of the Japanese comedy duo NON STYLE, the show incorporates distinctly Japanese elements, including sword-fighting choreography and kendama, a traditional Japanese skill toy. Through facial expressions, physical movement and music, the production tells its story without relying on dialogue.

The theater welcomed many international visitors. Following the performance, audience members shared reactions such as, “I’ve never seen a show like this before” and “It was much more fun than I expected.”

GABEZ, Known for Their Tokyo 2020 Olympic Pictogram Performance, Close the Festival

Namba Square, the venue for the festival’s free street performances. OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL 2026 drew a total of 73,658 attendees over three days.

Nonverbal performance duo GABEZ brought the festival’s final day to a close on the main stage. The duo are widely known for their pictogram performance at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Combining pantomime, dance and audience participation, their performance drew enthusiastic applause from spectators of all ages, including children and international tourists, through to the finale.

Akira Ishida, Festival MC and Director of CHALLENGE, Shares His Vision

Akira Ishida of NON STYLE, festival MC and director of CHALLENGE.

 

Akira Ishida of NON STYLE, who served as the festival’s overall master of ceremonies and directed CHALLENGE, commented:

“We have performers here who can make people laugh without relying on words. I really hope audiences from overseas will find them funny, too!”

 

OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL to Continue in 2027 and Beyond

OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL is scheduled to continue in 2027 and beyond. Details of the next edition, including dates and program information, will be announced on the official website and social media channels as soon as confirmed.

Information for International Media

The festival’s international media contact team welcomes inquiries in both English and Japanese regarding:

– Media materials: Official photographs from all three days and daily highlight videos are available for news coverage of the event only. No credit line is required. Online use of video footage is limited to one video of no more than five minutes, with use permitted until December 31, 2026.
– Future coverage and interviews: Inquiries are welcome regarding coverage of the next edition and interviews with performers and event organizers.

Event Information

Event name: OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL 2026 (Part of the Osaka International Cultural Arts Project)
Dates: October 10 (Saturday)–12 (Monday, national holiday), 2026
Venues:

– Street performances: Namba Square, 5-1 Namba, Chuo-ku, Osaka
– Theater performances: SPACE14, 14th floor, Shinsaibashi PARCO, 1-8-3 Shinsaibashisuji, Chuo-ku, Osaka

Organizers: Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City and the Osaka Cultural Arts Project Executive Committee
Committee members: Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau, and Kansai Tourism Bureau
Total attendance: 73,658
Official website: https://oc-fes.com
Official social media channels:
X: @osaka_comedyfes
Instagram: @osaka_comedy_festival

Media Inquiries

International Media Desk
Osaka Cultural Arts Project Operations Secretariat
International Public Relations (APOC Co., Ltd.)
Email: pr@apocc.co.jp
Tel: +81-3-6823-8848

Office hours: Weekdays, 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. Japan Standard Time (UTC+9). Email inquiries are accepted 24 hours a day.
General Inquiries and Performance Information in Japan
Osaka Cultural Arts Project Operations Secretariat
Tel: 06-7177-6938 (weekdays, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. JST)
Email: info@oica-project.jp

Media Contact

Organization: Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Contact Person: Satoko Kimura

Website: https://www.yoshimoto.co.jp

Email: Send Email

Address: 1-9-1 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi

City: Osaka

Country: Japan

Release id: 50054

View source version on King Newswire:
OSAKA COMEDY FESTIVAL 2026 Draws 73,658 Attendees, Cirque du Soleil’s First Clown Auditions in Japan

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Press Release

AIMS Highlights Key Checks for Verifying a Regulated Forex Broker

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The broker outlines its regulatory structure, client fund arrangements and the information traders can review when assessing broker legitimacy.

Malaysia, 20th Oct 2026 – AIMS has outlined several points traders can check when assessing a forex broker, including the company behind an account, its regulatory licence and the way client funds are handled.

The information reflects AIMS’ own operating structure across several regulated jurisdictions and is intended to make broker verification more straightforward for traders, particularly in Southeast Asia.

What Is AIMS?

AIMS is a financial brokerage brand serving retail traders, introducing brokers, affiliates and money managers across Southeast Asia and other markets. The company has operated in financial markets for more than 11 years.

AIMS works through different legal entities in different jurisdictions. Its regulatory coverage includes an Australian Financial Services Licence issued by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, AFSL No. 526125; a Labuan Forex Money Broking Licence, No. MB/17/0017; a Cambodia Derivative Broker Licence issued by the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia, No. 035; and an Indonesian licence issued by BAPPEBTI, No. SI/09/2025.

For traders checking whether AIMS is regulated, the relevant licence is the one attached to the legal entity serving their account.

Indonesia is one part of that structure. AIMS has a locally licensed presence through BAPPEBTI, Indonesia’s commodity futures regulator. This gives Indonesian traders a local regulatory reference when checking the broker’s status.

Regulation and Client Fund Arrangements

AIMS also identifies segregated client funds and professional indemnity insurance (PII) among its client-protection measures.

Segregated funds are intended to keep client money separate from a broker’s operating funds. Professional indemnity insurance serves a different purpose and covers specified liabilities associated with the business.

Neither arrangement removes the financial risk involved in trading, and neither should be treated as protection against trading losses.

These details are relevant to common questions around whether AIMS is safe, reliable or legitimate. Rather than relying on a single claim, traders can look at the company name, regulatory status and client-fund arrangements together.

The applicable documentation may differ depending on the jurisdiction and legal entity through which a client is served.

What Traders Can Check Before Opening an Account

A broker’s website is usually the starting point, but the information shown there should match the entity and jurisdiction connected to the account.

A practical review can focus on five points:

– the legal name of the company providing the service;

– the regulator responsible for that entity;

– the licence number shown for the company;

– whether client funds are held separately from operating funds;

– the legal and risk documentation available to clients.

These checks are also useful when traders come across similar brand names, unofficial websites or third parties claiming to represent a broker.

AIMS advises clients to use official company channels when accessing account information or communicating about financial services.

Regulation, fund segregation and insurance arrangements do not eliminate market risk. They form part of the information traders can review when verifying who they are dealing with and which legal entity is responsible for the account.

About AIMS

AIMS is a financial brokerage brand serving retail traders, introducing brokers, affiliates and money managers across multiple markets. The brand operates through regional legal entities subject to the regulatory requirements of their respective jurisdictions. AIMS

AURIC INTERNATIONAL MARKETS CO., LTD (AIMS)

+62 21 31138057

Visit us on social media:

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AIMS | World’s Leading STP Broker

Media Contact

Organization: AURIC INTERNATIONAL MARKETS CO., LTD (AIMS)

Contact Person: documents@aimsfx.com

Website: https://www.aimsfx.com/

Email: Send Email

Contact Number: +622131138057

Country: Malaysia

Release id: 50045

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Press Release

Beyond Productivity: South Korea’s Timing App Helps Users See Where Their Time Goes

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Timing combines five-minute activity records, calendar planning, and reflection to help users compare what they intended to do with how their day actually unfolded.

Wonju, South Korea, 20th Oct 2026 – Where did my day go? For someone who made a plan in the morning but cannot explain where the hours went by evening, the problem may be less about planning than knowing what actually happened. Timing, a time-tracking app from South Korean company NALDA, is designed to make that gap visible and offer a starting point for reflection.

According to NALDA, users had logged a combined 200,000 hours in Timing as of October 1, 2026. The figure represents the total time recorded by users across the app.

Timing is built around the distinction between recording time and understanding it. Instead of treating a completed time log as the goal, the app invites users to notice where their intentions and actions diverged. Observing that difference offers a concrete basis for reviewing habits, revising plans, and making the next choice.

The approach grew out of NALDA’s Jumadeung Diary, a paper journal developed with an education professor specializing in educational counseling. The journal centered on recording daily activities and looking back at them. Timing brings that practice to a smartphone, offering a record of actions as a simple starting point for reflection, even when feelings are difficult to describe.

Timing uses a color-coded grid to make that record easy to read: each cell represents five minutes, and each row represents one hour. Users log focused work, breaks, and everyday tasks to see how a day unfolded. What might otherwise be remembered as a blur of activity becomes a pattern they can revisit.

Planning is paired with activity records rather than kept apart from them. Timing integrates with Apple Calendar and Google Calendar, allowing users to view scheduled events while planning their days and weeks. They can compare their plans with actual records side by side, see which tasks took longer than expected, and identify when the day took a different direction. Those differences can help inform more realistic plans.

Daily and weekly summaries show how time is distributed across activities, including focus and rest. A day remembered as uninterrupted work, for example, may reveal frequent task switching. For Timing, reviewing such patterns is the link between keeping a record and exercising self-discipline: users can consider what to change next instead of simply counting how many hours they logged.

Live Activities and widgets extend self-monitoring beyond the app. Users can check their current activity and recording status from the Lock Screen or Home Screen, making it easier to notice what they are doing as the day unfolds. A Pomodoro timer also lets users set a focus period and track the session. Together, these tools support awareness in the moment, while activity summaries support reflection afterward.

Rather than promise a perfectly optimized day, NALDA frames Timing as a way to pay attention to everyday behavior. An unfinished plan becomes something to examine against the activity record, not just an unchecked task. The intended practice is repeatable: make a plan, observe what happens, reflect on the difference, and decide what to do next.

NALDA also reports that Timing is being used at the Gangwon Smart-shim Center(Internet Addiction Prevention Center) in South Korea, an example of its use in an organizational setting as well as by individuals.

For NALDA, the point of a time record is not the record itself. It is the question that record can help answer: Where did my day go, and what might I do differently tomorrow? By bringing planning, observation, and reflection together, Timing aims to give users a clearer basis for the next choice.

About NALDA: NALDA Co., Ltd. is a South Korea-based technology company specializing in digital wellness, time management solutions, and behavioral reflection applications.

For more information, please visit https://nalda.co

Media Contact

Organization: NALDA Co., Ltd.

Contact Person: Yisub Heo

Website: https://nalda.co/

Email: Send Email

City: Wonju

Country: South Korea

Release id: 50059

View source version on King Newswire:
Beyond Productivity: South Korea’s Timing App Helps Users See Where Their Time Goes

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Press Release

GRVT Burns 1.1 Million Tokens as Countdown to Grvt 2.0 Begins

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Singapore, Singapore, October 20th, 2026, Chainwire

The discretionary buyback represents close to 1% of circulating supply and precedes four planned product milestones culminating in Grvt 2.0.

Grvt, a self-custodial trading platform built on its own zero-knowledge (ZK) chain, announced that the Foundation’s token issuer has completed its first GRVT token buyback, purchasing and burning 1.1 million GRVT tokens on the open market.

The transaction permanently removed close to 1% of GRVT’s circulating supply at the time of purchase. It marks the first of five milestones ahead of the planned launch of Grvt 2.0 at the end of November 2026.

A Discretionary Buyback with On-Chain Verification

The Foundation’s token issuer intends to conduct further buybacks on a monthly basis. Each transaction remains entirely at the issuer’s discretion, with no predetermined purchase amount or guaranteed schedule.

Buybacks are executed through an independent execution partner, with purchased tokens transferred to a designated burn address and permanently removed from circulation.

The transactions can be independently verified through the public buyback dashboard, which records the number of tokens purchased and burned, the percentage of circulating supply represented, cumulative burns and on-chain transaction hashes.

“The GRVT token is an important part of the ecosystem we are building,” said Hong, co-founder and CEO of Grvt. “We welcome the issuer’s buybacks as a demonstration of its long-term commitment to the ecosystem and community. Grvt is expanding its products and markets, and the issuer’s buybacks sit alongside that as a supportive mechanism aimed at reducing circulating token supply.”

Grvt Outlines Four Product Milestones

The announcement follows GRVT’s token generation event in July 2026 and precedes a series of planned launches.Grvt Earn, scheduled for the End of October, will introduce yield opportunities backed by tokenized assets, with target yields of up to 11%. Potential returns are expected to derive from underlying asset cash flows, including interest, premiums and invoice-related income. Asset-supplying partners will be announced at launch. Target yields are not guaranteed.

Stable Funding Perps, scheduled for November, will introduce perpetual futures linked to commodities, stocks, foreign exchange and indices. The contracts are planned to carry zero trading fees and use once-daily funding. Grvt aims to list more than 1,000 markets by the end of December 2026.

Yield as Margin, also scheduled for November, will allow eligible Grvt Earn balances to support trading positions while continuing to accrue yield, subject to applicable product terms and risk parameters.

Grvt 2.0, scheduled for the End of November, will consolidate these capabilities into a single self-custodial app, alongside a new name, visual identity, and the company’s 2027 roadmap.

Addressing Idle Capital

The expansion follows a survey of Grvt traders conducted earlier in 2026. Six in ten respondents reported keeping at least a quarter of their capital on the platform idle, while many reported moving funds elsewhere to pursue yields of 8% or more.

Grvt’s upcoming products aim to reduce the separation between earning yield and deploying capital for trading.

“Traders shouldn’t have to choose between putting their capital to work and keeping it ready to trade,” Hong said. “Grvt 2.0 is designed around a single self-custodial balance that can support both activities.”

Founded in 2022, Grvt currently supports perpetual futures across approximately 200 cryptocurrency and real-world asset markets.

The GRVT token launched in July 2026 and confers no ownership, profit or other economic rights.

Further details are available in the full announcement.

About Grvt

Grvt is a self-custodial trading platform operating on its own zero-knowledge chain. The platform supports cryptocurrency and real-world asset perpetual futures and is developing products that allow eligible balances to earn yield while supporting trading activity.

Learn more at grvt.io.

Contact

Head of Marketing
Lesner Chua
GRVT ASIA PTE. LTD
lesner.chua@grvt.io

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Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.

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