Жапон комедиясының жұлдызы – Мацумото Хитоши

Japanese comedian

Hitoshi Matsumoto (松本 人志) is a Japanese comedian and filmmaker. He is one half of the comedy duo Downtown, alongside Masatoshi Hamada, and is one of the most popular comedians in Japan. He was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture. In early 2024, Matsumoto suspended public appearances to focus on a defamation trial.

Matsumoto was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo, to a poor family. He has expressed his feelings about growing up in a poor household in a poem titled Chicken Rice (チキンライス) which Hamada turned into a song in 2004. In his poem, he wrote how laughter was the only way to get through those times. He credits his poverty for giving him a good imagination and sense of play, as it forced him to invent his own games to entertain himself. His favorite manga as a child was Tensai Bakabon by Fujio Akatsuka. He aspired to become a manga artist. He attended Ushio Elementary School, where he met Masatoshi Hamada. It was revealed in July 2008 that Matsumoto was dating then 25 year old tarento Ihara Rin. In the evening of May 17, 2009, it was announced that Matsumoto's official bachelorhood had ended with a secret marriage ceremony between himself and the aforementioned Ihara. Ihara, a former weather announcer for the Japanese news program "ズームイン!! Super" (Zoom In!! Super) is nineteen years Matsumoto's junior, and apparently became pregnant by Matsumoto, prompting the marriage.

Matsumoto's hobbies include driving, billiards, and video games. As an admirer of Vincent van Gogh, he has gone to Amsterdam to visit The Van Gogh Museum. These trips were filmed for The True Hitoshi Matsumoto (松本人志の本当), a special NHK BS documentary series. Another figure he respects is the late comedian, Kanbi Fujiyama. He enjoys tokusatsu shows and owns DVD box sets of series such as Kamen Rider and Giant Robo. He has parodied tokusatsu a number of times on his previous show, Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji (with characters such as the Go Renjai, Miracle Ace and Aho Aho Man), and in his directorial film debut, Dainipponjin.

He has demonstrated good physical fitness on Gaki no Tsukai. He defeated his comedy partner Hamada in a high jump competition by clearing 1.40m on the first try. In 1999, he outran Hamada, Hōsei Yamasaki and both members of Cocorico in a 100 meter race (he ran the entire length while the other four ran a quarter of the length each in the form of a relay race). Three years later, he performed notably better than them in a long jump competition. Although he claims to have no interest in sports, he has occasionally dabbled in boxing as he is friends with former world boxing champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi. Once a heavy cigarette smoker, he quit in 2003. On June 28, 2010, Yoshimoto Kogyo announced that Matsumoto would not be performing on any shows for two months due to an injury on his left hip, which required surgery. For two episodes, the remaining Gaki no Tsukai cast members discussed his condition, with Matsumoto returning to hosting on August 31, 2010. In subsequent segments of the show requiring rigorous physical activities, such as the annual New Year's Eve 24 Hour Batsu Games of recent years, he is exempted and instead given idle or captive roles, due to his previous injury. During the 2011 Gaki no Tsukai batsu game involving the group becoming airline assistants, Matsumoto revealed he had suffered a stress fracture preparing for said batsu game, and despite doctor's orders, he still participated in the batsu game.

In December 2023, two women made anonymous allegations in an article published in the weekly Japanese celebrity magazine Shukan Bunshun that Matsumoto had sexually assaulted them in 2015 at "VIP parties". In response his talent agency strongly denied, saying that there "no facts whatsoever" to the allegations. Other anonymous allegations followed of other women with similar accounts. Subsequent accusations say that he requested specific types of women to be procured from him from his fellow comedians who he would then sexually harass or assault. The trial began in March, with Matsumoto's lawyers saying that they cannot respond to the accusations because the identity of the women remains hidden. section, and in this section, use one of the templates such as , or one of the others which can be found at Wikipedia:Citation templates >