, who is professionally known as Hikakin (Japanese: ヒカキン), is a Japanese YouTuber, beatboxer, and businessman. He co-founded and is supreme advisor of the Japanese multi-channel network Uuum. He also established, and serves as co-CEO and Chief creative officer of the company . Hikakin is also a member of the Japanese music group Hikakin & Seikin. His popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage have made him one of Japan's most-prominent online personalities and content creators.
Hikakin was born and raised in Myōkō City, Niigata Prefecture. He opened his YouTube channel "Hikakin" in 2006, posting mainly beatboxing videos. In 2010, he posted "Super Mario Beatbox", a beatbox medley of music from Super Mario Bros., which gained over a million views in one week. In 2012, he quit his supermarket to focus on his YouTube channel. In 2015, he began producing music, including the "YouTube Theme Song", which he co-wrote with his brother Seikin, and in November of the same year, his channel "HikakinTV" exceeded 2.57 million subscribers, making it the most-subscribed-to YouTube channel in Japan.
In 2021, his YouTube channel "HikakinTV" surpassed 10 million subscribers and by 2022, "HikakinTV" had accumulated more than 10 billion views. In 2023, Hikakin launched his brand Hikakin Premium (currently known as Bee), and released cup ramen, "Misokin Rich Miso Ramen" (みそきん 濃厚味噌ラーメン), and cup rice, "Misokin Rich Miso Meshi" (みそきん 濃厚味噌メシ), at 7-Eleven stores in Japan, which had sold 60 million meals in July 2026. On April 21, 2026, he launched the barley tea "Onicha" (鬼茶) and two months later, sales surpassed 7.5 million bottles.
Hikakin's seven YouTube channels have more than 30 million subscribers and 25.7 billion views, and as of July 2026, his main channel, "HikakinTV", is the eighth-most-subscribed-to YouTube channel in Japan. His online popularity has boosted sales of the video games he plays and inspired support for charitable fundraising. Hikakin has been nominated in the International category at the 10th and 12th Streamy Awards, and Forbes Japan named him one of the "Top 50 Influencers" in 2019.
Early life Hikaru Kaihatsu was born on April 21, 1989, in Myōkōkōgen, Nakakubiki District, Niigata Prefecture (present Myōkō City, Niigata Prefecture).Multiple sources: He has an older brother, Seikin, who is also a YouTube content creator. As a child he was noted as a strange boy in the corner of the classroom. They grew up in the snowy Jōetsu region. When he was attending elementary school, Hikaru's dream was to participate in Olympic ski jumping, and he continued to ski jump until high school. During elementary school, he became interested in Human Beatboxing through the segment on the Fuji Television variety show "".
Hikaru was educated at Myōkōkōgen Minami Elementary School (later Myoko City), Myoko Junior High School (present Myoko Municipal Myoko Junior High School), he entered . and Niigata Prefectural Arai High School, and went to Tokyo. Some supermarkets in Tokyo employed people from Niigata Prefecture, and he found employment at the Japanese supermarket (吉池). At that time he had no bank account and therefore no savings, and went to Tokyo with only 20,000 yen given by his parents. The supermarket where he worked had a company dormitory, the rent for which was deducted from his monthly salary, so he did not have to find a place to live.
Career
2006–2010: Career beginnings and breakthrough Kaihatsu started his YouTube channel "Hikakin" in December 2006. He opened account so he could watch videos of overseas beatboxers, and started uploading his own videos to it. He started posting videos soon after opening the account but later deleted it, so few videos from that time remain, the oldest being a beatbox video he filmed in 2007 while at high school. Since then, he recorded a number of beatbox videos using a cheap microphone in the bathroom of the company dormitory or in his room at night, uploading one or two videos a month.
Kaihatsu applied to become a YouTube partner, a system for earning advertising revenue, but was rejected. After this, he wanted to get offers from YouTube, and began to make videos from the viewer's point of view. For about two years after his arrival in Tokyo, his channel's views gradually increased, and the most-popular video at the time had about 200,000 views. YouTube was not well-known in Japan, and only about 10-20% of its content originated in Japan.
On June 17, 2010, Kaihatsu uploaded "Super Mario Beatbox", a beatbox medley of music from the video game Super Mario Bros. This was the most popular YouTube video of the month in Japan, and was featured on CBS News in the United States. The video reached 200,000 views within 24 hours of upload, and a million views a week later, and was featured on Yahoo's homepage, and Hikakin received interview requests from two Japanese television stations. Later, he received an offer from YouTube to join its partnership program. In 2010, he was selected as one of the world's top 500 YouTube partners, and won the "WOW Star Project 2010" organized by the Japanese broadcaster Wowow, earning an invitation to Las Vegas. These events led to a gradual increase in requests to perform live and on television shows.
2011–2014: Rise to Fame In June 2011, Hikakin attended the YouTube Partner Forum in Japan. Inspired by a speech by American YouTuber Michelle Phan at the event, he began focusing more seriously on video production. Later that year, he entered the "YouTube NextUp 2011" contest, which awarded two million yen (about US$12,800) to ten winners, intending to become a full-time creator, but he was not selected. Following this, he sought guidance from Tomohiro Sato, a YouTuber advisor, who provided him with video-creation handbooks and personal advice. He also analyzed and adapted editing techniques, titles, and thumbnails from top domestic and international creators. Within approximately three months, Hikakin's YouTube revenue surpassed his salary from his job.
After achieving success with his beatboxing videos, Hikakin realized he would reach his limit, and in July 2011, he opened a new channel, "HikakinTV", to show his daily life. The channel quickly became a success, and by the end of 2011, the "Hikakin" channel had the most subscribers in Japan. In 2012, he left his job at the supermarket and began to make a living from YouTube advertising revenue. Regarding his time as an office worker, he said, "It was hard because I wasn't doing what I loved. But I was able to continue working thanks to my determination, thinking, 'I'm not just an office worker. I make videos and people from overseas are watching them. By this time, the number of subscribers to his YouTube channel had surpassed 360,000.
In December 2012, Hikakin released his first album, a collaboration with video-game composer Hideki Sakamoto, for the soundtrack of , a drawing application for the PlayStation Vita. In May 2013, Hikakin participated in the Social Star Awards and the subsequent Singapore Social concerts, performing with Aerosmith, beatboxing and performing with the band on "Walk This Way". A month later, he founded the Japanese multi-channel network Uuum and became its chief advisor. Two months later, he published his first book, , through the Japanese publisher , and sales surpassed 30,000 copies.
At the end of 2013, Hikakin received an offer from the Japanese anti-aging cosmetics company and appeared in a television commercial for its "Scalp D" (スカルプD) shampoo. This marked his first appearance in a television commercial. In February, he collaborated with American singer Ariana Grande, beatboxing to her song "Baby I". On June 27, 2014, in collaboration with Google, Hikakin started a live video project called "HikakinGames with Google Play" for game apps available on Google Play.
In October 2014, Hikakin performed at the first YouTube FanFest in Tokyo, Japan. At the same event, Japanese breakbeat-music duo Hifana performed with instruments and using Hikakin's beatbox broken down into several parts, and created a new combination of these elements.
In December 2014, Hikakin went to New York City to collaborate with Ariana Grande, beatboxing while she was singing "Break Free". In the same month, Hikakin uploaded a video that featured American singer Ne-Yo. They performed Ne-Yo's song "Coming with You" and his 2007 hit "Because of You". He also appeared in YouTube Rewind video, YouTube Rewind: Turn Down for 2014.
2015–2023: Mainstream success
On August 14, 2015, Hikakin released "YouTube Theme Song" which he co-produced with his older brother, Seikin. From this point, the pair began to produce music as Hikakin & Seikin. "YouTube Theme Song" reached number 78 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. As of 2024, it has surpassed 100 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on his channel "HikakinTV". In November of the same year, "HikakinTV" surpassed 2.57 million subscribers, making it the most-subscribed-to YouTube channel in Japan.
On December 22, 2017, Hikakin became the first YouTuber to appear on Music Station Super Live. On May 12, he worked with members of SMAP on Fuji Television's SMAPxSMAP. In 2019, Forbes Japan included him in its "Top Influencers 50" list.
On April 10, 2020, on his YouTube channel, Hikakin posted a video featuring a conversation with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike about the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to Hikakin's suggestion. This video was viewed more than seven million times within 24 hours of its release. Forbes Japan stated this video is "easy to spread" because it was not monetized and included no advertisements. In an interview with BuzzFeed Japan, he later stated he believed influencers should use their platforms to provide accurate information to young people and hoped his content would benefit others in the future. On December 8, 2020, the video was ranked number one in YouYube's official list of "Domestic Annual Top Trending Ranking".
His channel kept growing, reaching nine million subscribers on April 8, 2021. Hikakin set 10 million subscribers as his next goal. When his "HikakinTV" channel reached its 10th anniversary, he announced he would post 10 videos with extra effort, from August 1 to 20. The 10th video is the music video for Hikakin & Seikin's song "", produced to commemorate the anniversary. This is the first Hikakin & Seikin music video to be released on "HikakinTV" since "YouTube Theme Song" in 2015. Hikakin changed his intro animation to one in which he encourages himself to reach his goal and celebrates HikakinTV's 10th anniversary.
At 12:11 on September 10, 2021, his YouTube channel "HikakinTV" surpassed 10 million subscribers. The same day, he made a live broadcast and cried at the moment he reached the milestone. In September 17 of the same year, Hikakin announced he would donate 10 yen (about US$0.06) for every additional subscriber for the rest of his life. For every additional million subscribers, he would donate 10 million yen (about US$64,000), saying: "I am able to earn money thanks to all of you who watch my videos. That's why I wanted to contribute to society, even if just a little."
On December 18, 2021, Hikakin launched an iPhone 13 giveaway campaign on X (formerly Twitter). Participants were required to follow his official account and retweet the relevant post; 103 iPhone 13 units, valued at 10 million yen, were offered as prizes. The post garnered over 1.75 million retweets. In a video uploaded on December 21, Hikakin noted this figure surpassed the 1.087 million retweets achieved by an anti-racism post from BTS using the hashtag "#StopAsianHate". According to data released by Twitter Japan on December 10, BTS's post previously held the record for the most retweets globally in 2021. Ultimately, this tweet reached 1.8 million retweets, becoming the eighth-most-retweeted tweet.