Hikakin
Hikaru Kaihatsu, professionally known as Hikakin, is a Japanese YouTuber, human beatboxer and businessman who is the co-founder of Uuum, a Japanese multi-channel network. He is also a member of the Japanese music group Hikakin & Seikin. His popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage has made him one of the most prominent online personalities and content creators in Japan, and he has been portrayed in the media as a pioneer of YouTubers in Japan.
Born and raised in Myōkō City, Niigata Prefecture, Hikakin opened his YouTube channel "Hikakin" in 2006, where he mainly posted beatboxing videos. In 2010, he posted "Super Mario Beatbox", a beatboxing medley of Super Mario Bros. background music, which garnered over 3.8 million views by mid-September of that year. He, along with fellow Japanese YouTuber Megwin, quit his job in 2012 to focus on his channel. In 2015, he began producing music with the song "YouTube Theme Song", which he co-wrote with his brother Seikin, and in November of the same year, his channel "HikakinTV" surpassed 2.57 million subscribers, making it the most-subscribed YouTube channel in Japan.
In 2021, the number of subscribers to his channel "HikakinTV" exceeded 10 million. In 2022, "HikakinTV" alone achieved a cumulative total of 10 billion views. In 2023, he launched his own brand "Hikakin Premium" and released cup ramen, "Misokin Rich Miso Ramen", and cup rice, "Misokin Rich Miso Meshi", at 7-Eleven stores in Japan, and reported selling 10 million meals in November 2024.
His six channels boast more than 28 million subscribers and 22 billion views, and as of December 2025, his main channel "HikakinTV" is the 8th most subscribed channel on YouTube in Japan. His online popularity has also boosted sales of the video games he plays and inspired support for charitable fundraising efforts. In 2019, Forbes Japan included him in its "Top Influencers 50" list.
Early life
On April 21, 1989, he was the second born son to his parents in Myōkōkōgen, Nakakubiki District, Niigata Prefecture. As a child he was noted as a strange boy in the corner of the classroom. Growing up in the snowy Jōetsu region, when he was an elementary school student, his dream was to participate in Olympic ski jumping, and he continued to ski jump until high school. During elementary school, he also became interested in Human Beatboxing through the segment "" on the Fuji TV variety show, "Hamonepu League".After studying at Myōkōkōgen Minami Elementary School and Myoko Junior High School, he entered Niigata Prefectural Arai High School. In March, he graduated from Niigata Prefectural Arai High School and went to Tokyo. Among supermarkets in Tokyo, many of them are employees from Niigata Prefecture, and I made a living by working at Japanese supermarket, which happened to have a job opening at his high school. At that time he had no bank account of his own, therefore had no savings, and went to Tokyo with only 20,000 yen given by his parents. The supermarket at which he worked had a company dormitory and the rent was deducted from his monthly salary, so he did not have to worry about finding a place to live.
Career
2006–2008: Career beginnings
He started his official channel "Hikakin" on YouTube in December 2006. He originally made an account to watch videos of overseas beatboxers, but he thought that if he posted his own videos, people would watch them, so he started uploading. He started posting videos soon after making an account, but since he deleted it, very few videos from that time remain. The oldest video is a beatbox video he filmed in his bathroom in 2007. In 2015, a remake version of this beatbox video, "2015 ver.", was posted, which was shot in the same bathroom and clothes as the original. Since then, He was recording a number of beatbox videos using a cheap microphone in the bathroom of the company dormitory or in his room at night, carefully selecting the ones that he thought were good, and uploading one or two videos a month.He once applied to become a YouTube partner, but was rejected at the time. After that incident, he began to think, "I'll do it so that I can get offers from YouTube", and began to make videos from the viewer's point of view. Although nothing major happened for about two years after his arrival in Tokyo, the number of views gradually increased, and the most popular video at the time had about 200,000 views. At the time, YouTube was still not well known in Japan, and most of the views were from overseas, with only about 10-20% coming from Japan.
2009–2014: Rise to Fame
In 2010, he uploaded "Super Mario Beatbox", a beatbox medley of background music from the Super Mario Bros. This video reached the number 1 spot on YouTube for the month in Japan and was featured in the top story of CBS News in the United States. After reaching 200,000 views 24 hours after uploading the video and 1 million views a week later, Hikakin received an offer from YouTube to become a YouTube partner, He said that he thought, "I have YouTube, even when customers get angry at me in the supermarket or when my boss gets sarcastic with me." Furthermore, he was selected as one of the top 500 best YouTube partners in the world in 2010 and won the "WOW Star Project 2010" and was invited to Las Vegas. These events led to a gradual increase in requests to perform live and on TV shows as a performer.In June 2011, the YouTube Partner Forum was held in Japan. At the time, he did not even have the idea of posting videos for a living, but meeting American YouTuber Michelle Phan at this event and being impressed by her speech was a turning point, and he began posting videos in earnest. Later, an opportunity presented itself when a contest called "YouTube NextUp 2011" was held, with 10 winners and a prize of 2 million yen. At the time, he had the largest number of subscribers in Japan, and people around him thought that he would win. He entered the contest with the confidence that he could quit his job and concentrate on YouTube, but he did not win. After this humiliating setback, he sought advice from Tomohiro Sato, who works as an advisor to YouTubers. There, he received a handbook outlining the basics of video creation and lots of individual advice. On his own, he studied videos by top creators in Japan and abroad, and imitated their editing skills, such as their titles and thumbnails. After about three months of doing so, he realized that his income from YouTube exceeded his company employee's salary.
After achieving success with his beatboxing videos, Hikakin soon realized that he would reach his limit if he continued like this, 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 for the first time. In 2012, he left the supermarket Yoshiike, where he had worked since moving to Tokyo, and began to make a living from advertising revenue through uploading videos. 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.
In December 2012, Hikakin released his first album, a collaboration with video game music composer Hideki Sakamoto, for the soundtrack of the Echannel drawing application of the PlayStation Vita. In May 2013, Hikakin participated in the Social Star Awards and the subsequent Singapore Social concerts, performing with Aerosmith during their stage set and beatboxing before performing with the band on "Walk This Way". A month later, he founded the Japanese multi-channel network Uuum and became its founder and chief advisor.
In February 2014, Hikakin made a collaboration beatbox video 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. Hikakin and several other creators affiliated with Uuum will be live commenting on popular titles that are trending on Google Play.
In October 2014, Hikakin was one of the performers for the first YouTube FanFest in Tokyo, Japan. At the same YouTube FanFest, Japanese breakbeat music duo Hifana performed with their instruments and using Hikakin's beatbox broken down into several parts, and created a new combination with Hikakin's beatboxing and their instruments.
In December 2014, Hikakin went to New York City to do another collaboration video with Ariana Grande, doing beatboxing with her, while she was singing "Break Free". In the same month, Hikakin uploaded a beatbox video that featured American singer Ne-Yo. They performed Ne-Yo's song "Coming with You" and his famous 2007 hit "Because of You".
2015–2023: Mainstream success
On August 14, 2015, he released "YouTube Theme Song" which was produced in collaboration with his older brother, Seikin. Taking this opportunity, he began to produce music as Hikakin & Seikin. The "YouTube Theme Song" reached number 78 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. As of 2024, it has surpassed 100 million views, which is by far the most viewed video on his channel "HikakinTV".On December 22, 2017, he became the first YouTuber to appear on Music Station Super Live. On May 12, he collaborated with members of SMAP on Fuji Television's SMAPxSMAP.
On April 10, 2020, Hikakin discussed COVID-19 with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. The meeting was made possible by Governor Koike responding to Hikakin's suggestion. The video was not meant to be monetized and can be viewed ad-free, making it easy to spread. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Hikakin spoke about the dialogue, saying, "We are called YouTubers and influencers, but we are in a position to deliver information to young people, so I think we should use that to deliver accurate information to as many people as possible. I hope that what I share will help at least one person in the future."
On December 8, 2020, the video was ranked No. 1 in the "Domestic Annual Top Trending Ranking" announced by YouTube official.
His channel kept growing consistently since then, and it hit 9 million subscribers on April 8, 2021. He set 10 million subscribers as his next goal. When his "HikakinTV" channel reached its 10th anniversary, he announced that he will post 10 videos with extra effort, from August 1 to 20. The 10th video is the music video for Hikakin & Seikin's song "FIRE", produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of "HikakinTV". This is the first Hikakin & Seikin music video to be released on "HikakinTV" in about six years since their song "YouTube Theme Song" in 2015. Additionally, he changed his intro animation to one where he encourages himself to reach his goal and celebrates HikakinTV's 10th anniversary.
At 12:11 on September 10, 2021, the number of subscribers to his YouTube channel "HikakinTV" surpassed 10 million. On the day of the event, he made a live broadcast, and at the moment he reached the milestone, he was so moved that he cried. Later, on September 17 of the same year, Hikakin announced that he would donate 10 yen for every additional subscriber for the rest of his life. For every additional 1 million subscribers, he would donate 10 million yen. Regarding this, he said, "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 August 7, 2022, Hikakin released a video of a large-scale project in which he rented out Fuji-Q Highland, titled "". This video is a tag project that he planned and held with 130 million yen as a "dream video that he really wanted to shoot" after his channel surpassed 10 million subscribers. The video was premiered on YouTube, and after its release, it set a record by ranking first overall on YouTube's trending rankings, receiving 280,000 simultaneous viewers, and exceeding 5 million views in one day after its release.
On August 16, 2022, his channel "HikakinTV" reached 10 billion total views. On December 6, he was ranked first in the "Top Trending Videos of the Year in Japan" officially announced by YouTube. This marks the third consecutive year that he has been ranked first in the "Top Trending Videos of the Year in Japan". He also ranked ninth in the gaming category.
In early 2023, he posted a video of his visit to his alma mater, Myōkōkōgen Minami Elementary School, for the first time in 20 years, which is scheduled to close due to its integration with. At the request of the principal, he was accompanied by his older brother Seikin, who also graduated from the same school, and his childhood friend and classmate YouTuber, who accompanied him as surprise guests and created a commemorative painting and sang the school song together with the current students.