When rakugo storyteller Katsura Jakucho was a child, his father accumulated massive debts, plunging the family into extreme poverty. Unable to endure the hardship, his mother abandoned the family and disappeared. Jakucho later remarked that while fathers usually tend to be the ones who vanish, leaving mothers to protect the children, his case was the exact opposite. Afterward, his father continued to pile up debts before eventually abandoning young Jakucho and disappearing as well. While people often speak of single-mother or single-father households, Jakucho's home had simply become a household consisting of a child alone. Jakucho had to live by himself as a child, relying on the help of neighborhood residents. However, the debt collectors showed up relentlessly, interrogating him and demanding to know the whereabouts of his parents. Having survived those harsh days, Jakucho eventually debuted as a professional rakugo storyteller and achieved success. One day, during a performance, Jakucho caught sight of his mother in the audience. After the show, someone told him that a visitor was waiting in the dressing room. Even though she had once abandoned him, she was still his birth mother. With tears in his eyes, Jakucho prepared for an emotional reunion. However, the mother who appeared in the dressing room was bright, cheerful, and full of energy, completely killing any emotional mood with not a hint of remorse. To make matters worse, she immediately began asking him for money. Understandably losing his temper, Jakucho threw her out of the dressing room. As she was leaving, she said: "See you later, Jak-chan!" She hadn't called her son by his real name, but by his professional stage name as a rakugo storyteller.
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