is a Japanese television comedian. He is most famous as one half of the ''

owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the Honorific speech in Japanese#Honorific prefixes, honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". '' ...

'' duo Bakushō Mondai along with Yūji Tanaka, where he acts as the '' boke''. He was born in

Kamifukuoka, Saitama was a Cities of Japan, city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 54,486 and a population density of approximately 8,000 persons per km2. The total area was 6.81 km2. History The city was founded on April 10, 19 ...

Unique character

Ōta is known for his strained, long-winded speeches, though it is perhaps his profound and sometimes dangerous comments that make him a staple of modern Japanese entertainment, and reflect his rather remarkable personality. As a ''boke'', one is generally expected to fulfill a more ignorant comedy role, but Ōta's ''boke'' has him frequently overstepping classical boundaries into new and often controversial territories, often prompting Tanaka (as the

tsukkomi The following glossary of words and terms (generally of Japanese language, Japanese origin) are related to ''owarai'' (Japanese comedy). Many of these terms may be used in areas of Japanese culture beyond comedy, including television and radio, ...

) to bring him back down to reality. Ōta is a

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

—reportedly reading over 100 books a year—and some of his favorite authors include

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American and Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of his fourth novel '' Th ...

J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger ( ; January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel '' The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger published several short stories in '' Story'' magazine in 1940, before serving in World Wa ...

, and

Osamu Dazai , known by his pen name , was a Japanese novelist and author. A number of his most popular works, such as ''The Setting Sun'' (斜陽, ''Shayō'') and '' No Longer Human'' (人間失格, ''Ningen Shikkaku''), are considered modern classics. Hi ...

(of whom Ōta's father was a student), many of them holding some similitude to his often absurdist view of the world. His opinions almost never synch with Tanaka's, that is to say, he often avoids agreeing with Tanaka by intentionally taking the opposing side simply out of spite, making their ''boke''/''tsukkomi'' relationship much more lively, and perhaps realistic. He is an active

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

ist and has published a number of collections.

Literary career

In 2010, Ōta published his first fictional literary work, a collection of short stories, "''Maboroshi no Tori''" (マボロシの鳥 / Legendary Bird) which he followed with a novel "''Bunmei No Ko''" (文明の子 / Child of Civilisation) in 2012.

Now showing

Ōta has recently found a niche for his relatively extremist and sometimes ridiculous world views as the main speaker in the

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

show, Hikari Ōta's If I Were Prime Minister... Secretary Tanaka, where he acts as the Japanese Prime Minister and addresses various social problems with his own style of radical solutions. The guests of the show often include high-profile members of the Japanese Diet and famous Japanese of various backgrounds. Ōta also voiced Sid the Sloth in the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

dubbed version of the animated franchise ''

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

''.

Awards

References

External links

"Pushing the Boundaries of Political Satire in Japan"
August 12, 2006 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
Bakushō Mondai's profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ota, Hikari 1965 births Living people People from Fujimino, Saitama Japanese male comedians 20th-century Japanese comedians 21st-century Japanese comedians