(by Arielle Busetto, JAPAN Forward)

You might imagine my slight amazement when I found out that a comedy dance crew by the name of s**t kingz agreed to an interview. What was in store for me?

I shouldn’t have worried. I was greeted by four easy-going, cheerful Japanese guys who seemed to be very excited to be touring the country.

As we sat down, tea in hand, I tried to figure out what this crew was all about. Before they started talking about their activities, I needed to ask: where does the name come from?

“It comes from the Japanese word shikkin, which means to pee in your pants (accidentally, of course)! We chose this because we wanted people to pee themselves by the shock of seeing our performance,” said the crew leader who goes by the stage name “Shoji.”

But, of course, that was a swear word in Japanese and off-limits, so they chose the next best thing: an English word which sounded the same. “We never dreamed we would perform abroad. So now it’s a dirty word all over the world!” Shoji explained, laughing.

This dance group was started 10 years ago. Nine years ago, they were among singer Mariah Carey’s back-up dancers. From there, they alternated between performances at home and workshops abroad, teaching dance.

“We’ve taught dance in more than 20 countries,” continued Shoji, a bubbly leader who is responsible for the stage settings and promotion of the group.

There has been an increase in the number of project collaborations in recent years, including participation in the Hermes Fashion Show, a performance at the West Gigantic City Land Festival, and the Motion Project by Sony.