[2] He attended Nishinomiya South High School [3] where being humorous was a desirable trait, popular among fellow students they coined the term kawaikkoii (かわいっこいい, "cute / cool") for him.

[7] In 1989, Hōsei and Hiromitsu Noriyasu made the move to Tokyo and renamed themselves as Team Zero (チーム0), appearing on the nationwide DAY BREAK show.

[8] However, Hōsei's comedy partner Hiromitsu Noriyasu found a passion for film directing[6] and by the end of September 1993, Team Zero decided to part ways towards their solo careers.

Initially he received much attention for his young appearance, however as his role in comedy gradually cemented towards being the hetare (へたれ, hopeless) suberi-kyara, his public image quickly changed.

Work began to dry up and Hōsei considered quitting comedy until he was amused by an episode of Mutsugoro & Fun Friends, where a little Pug dog barked loudly and hopelessly confronted a large St.

[10][11][12] Hōsei appeared in a number of direct-to-video releases,[13] including starring roles in the live-action manga adaptations of Chameleon and Pappakapā.

With Denpa Shōnen International he made a number of trips abroad to take on dangerous challenges such as meeting the Mafia in Italy, participating in the Running of the Bulls in Spain and searching for the Chupacabra in Mexico.

[14] Hōsei became a children's television presenter on the long-running Tensai Terebi-kun series, which also included performing in a number of stage plays.

From 2000 he co-hosted an MBS internet radio talk show called K'zStation Ore-tachi Yattemasu (K'zStationオレたちやってま〜す), mentioning it as one of his only regular sources of work on Gaki no Tsukai's No Laughing series in 2006.

[4][15][20][21] After seeking advice from Higashino Koji,[22] Hōsei began to listen to performer Shijaku Katsura II, which sparked a passion for rakugo.

Happo gave him the chance to perform the comical story Amida Pond (阿弥陀池) for an audience on 11 May 2008 then invited him to a nomikai where Hōsei requested an apprenticeship.

[29] At his first major solo rakugo performance, he received congratulatory flowers from Natsumi Ogawa (Masatoshi Hamada's wife), which he later handed out to attendees as thanks.

[33] Composing is another hobby of his, an aspect heavily utilized within the Yamasaki Produce segments of Gaki no Tsukai, where he creates both the music and lyrics for various songs which the rest of the cast must perform.

[37] Frequently Hōsei impersonates women such as the many popstars of the Shōwa period,[38] or acts in the role of fictional female characters such as the bride at a wedding.

After feeling a sense of anxiety from the highs and lows of the entertainment industry, Hōsei sought to expand his skill base and gain further qualifications to fall back on.

As well as English and piano, he dabbled in various subjects such as computers and game creation to varying degrees of proficiency before settling into his rakugo studies.

[45] Suberu literally means “to slip”, but in owarai lingo, subetta refers to a joke or gag that fails to grab any laughs or reaction.

[53] As Hōsei travels around Japan performing rakugo, he keeps a Japanese temple stamp book (go shuin chou) to commemorate his visits.