Yōku Hata (波田陽区, Hata Yōku, real name: Akira Hada (波田 晃, Hada Akira), born June 5, 1975, in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture[1]) is a Japanese stand up comedian.
[2] Hata rose to popularity in 2004[3] with his character "The Guitar Zamurai (Samurai)" (ギター侍) on the program The God of Entertainment (エンタの神様).
His popularity in this persona earned him an animated cameo in the Crayon Shin-Chan movie, "Crayon Shin-chan: The Legend of the Buri Buri 3 Minutes Charge", in which he played a monster that made fun of the sliding timescale of the cartoon (and thereby breaking the Fourth Wall).
After the novelty wore thin on the gimmick, he began to intermittently make appearances on variety shows under the Yoku Hata pseudonym and in regular street clothes.
He has recently begun to bring back the "Guitar Zamurai" character sporadically, to play on its nostalgic appeal.