, born March 10, 1972) is a Japanese entertainment personality who has performed as comedian, actor, singer, presenter, and music producer affiliated with the Japanese entertainment conglomerate

Yoshimoto Kogyo is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate. It was founded in 1912, Osaka, as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai (comedy) talent, producing and ...

and was the popular host of ''Matthew's Best Hit TV'' (as the character , and various other related shows on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

. He was born in

Toyonaka, Osaka is a Cities of Japan, city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 399,263 in 179651 households and a population density of 5700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a suburban city of Osaka City ...

. On May 7, 2005, he officially announced his intention to marry , a

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

. They married on July 30, 2005, at the

Grand Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vac ...

in Tokyo, with an audience of 340 guests including many famous Japanese personalities and celebrities. They have one daughter. In 2022, he was the co-host of Love Is Blind: Japan, and host of the

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

podcast ''Matthew's Matthew: Matthew in Matthew's Room''.

Acting career

Takashi Fujii is most active as an actor and a comedic host. In the western world, and particularly the United States, he is perhaps best known for his appearance as Matthew Minami, hosting his own show, with

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...

's character Bob Harris in the 2003 movie '' Lost in Translation''. As Matthew, his trademark blonde wig and garish suits complement his effeminate but wacky personality. Although Bill Murray has never been a guest, Fujii (as Matthew Minami) actually hosted such a program, now called Matthew's Best Hit UV, largely consisting of

musicians A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

and popular Japanese

celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

, the show's guests are often subject to fierce competition by Matthew Minami himself. The character Matthew Minami also appears in a handful of programs and shorts related to ''Best Hit TV''. Takashi Fujii is also a popular talent himself and appears frequently on many Japanese variety shows. He is considerably less

flamboyant Flamboyant () is a lavishly-decorated style of Gothic architecture that appeared in France and Spain in the 15th century, and lasted until the mid-sixteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance.Encyclopedia Britannica, "Flamboyant style ...

while appearing as himself, but his frequent seemingly random comments and odd gestures are all part of his signature performances. He has even made appearances in the US and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

showing off both his comedy and music. Takashi Fujii is currently featured on the following programs (titles are loose translations): * 発見!仰天!!プレミアもん!!! 土曜はダメよ! (''Hakken! Gyōten!! Puremia mon!!! Doyō wa Dame yo!'') on

YTV YTV or ytv may refer to: * YTV (Canadian TV channel), a Canadian youth television station owned by Corus Entertainment * YTV (Burmese TV network), a Burmese television channel owned by MY Multimedia Co., Ltd * YTV (Botswanan TV channel), a Botswana ...

* 新婚さんいらっしゃい！(Shikonsan Irasshai!) on Asahi TV

Past appearances

* 1999 (Drama) * 2001 '' There's Always Tomorrow'' (Drama) * 2001 ''There's Always Tomorrow'' (Movie) * 2001 ''Beauty 7'' (Drama) * 2002 ''Manten'' (Drama) * 2006 ''

The School of Water Business is a manga series created by Shinobu Inokuma, the author of '' Salad Days''. It is based on a novel by Hikaru Murozumi, and is set in a fictional trade-school—that focuses on the mizu shōbai—located in the Kabukichō district of Shin ...

'' (Drama) * 2016 ''

Sanada Maru The was a small fortification attached to Osaka castle. It is famous for being impregnable and playing a key role in defending the castle in the winter of 1615. Later, it was forcefully destroyed despite being exempt from the reconciliation con ...

'' (Drama) – Sasuke * 2016 ''

Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu is a Japanese romance '' josei'' manga series written and illustrated by Tsunami Umino. The original title is from a Hungarian proverb , . It was published by Kodansha, with serialization in ''Kiss'' magazine since November 9, 2012 and elev ...

'' (Drama) * 2017 ''

Warotenka is a Japanese historical drama television series and the 97th ''asadora'' series, following '' Hiyokko''. It premiered on October 2, 2017, and ended on March 31, 2018. The main character is based on Sei Yoshimoto, the co-founder of Yoshimoto Kog ...

'' (Drama) * 2018 '' Kamen Rider Build: The Movie – Be the One'' (Movie) – Mitsuomi Gohara/Zebra Lost Smash * 2020 ''

Mio's Cookbook ''Mio's Cookbook'' () is a 2020 period romance movie from Japan. Directed by Haruki Kadokawa, it was adapted from Kaoru Takada's novel ''Cookbook of Devotion, Mio’s Cookbook'' The film featured at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival in 2021 and ...

'' (Movie) * 2021 ''

Will I Be Single Forever? is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mari Okazaki, based on an web essay by . It was serialized in Shodensha's manga magazine '' Feel Young'' from April 2014 to October 2015, with its chapters collected in a single volume ...

'' (Movie) * 2022 ''

My Small Land is a 2022 Japanese drama film directed by Ema Kawawada. Synopsis Sarya is a Kurdish refugee, living in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, with her younger brother, sister, and father. Her mother died in her unnamed home country (in Kurdistan), and he ...

'' (Movie) * 2022 '' Love Is Blind: Japan'' (Reality show) * 2024 ''Cha-cha'' (Movie) * 2025 ''Missing Child Videotape'' (Movie) Takashi Fujii has also made numerous other minor appearances, as well as contributing his voice talent on various animated movies, including 2004's ''

Mind Game Mind games (also power games or head games) are actions performed for reasons of psychological one-upmanship, often employing passive–aggressive behavior to specifically demoralize or dis-empower the thinking subject, making the aggressor l ...

'' and has been in the Japanese dub versions of 2017's

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

remake and 2021's '' Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go - Race for the Sodor Cup.''

Music career

Fujii is also active as an artist and producer focusing on dance music and

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

. His single, "Oh My Juliet!", was produced by popular J-pop artist Tommy february⁶. The song was subsequently featured in the soundtrack to the film ''Babel''. Along with Tomoko Kawase, he has also worked with well-known artists such as

Daisuke Asakura is a Japanese musician, songwriter and producer who is known for his compositional work and skill at keyboards. Early life and career Asakura's childhood consisted of piano and electronic organ lessons, though he was expected to follow the fa ...

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Seiko Matsuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer-songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she has continued to release new singles and albums, go on annual summer concert tours, perform at wi ...

, and

Fayray , (born April 18, 1976) stylized as FAYRAY, is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She made her debut in July 1998 with the single "Taiyō no Gravity". She grew up in the United States and speaks English. Biography Fayray is the middle child of a fa ...

. In 2004, he did a "World Tour" with concerts in Los Angeles, U.S. and Shanghai, China. In 2014, he started his own record label: Slenderie Record.

Discography

Singles

* ''SIGN'' by Pasocom Music Club feat. Takashi Fujii (November 4, 2022) * ''Memory Flora'' with Moe Shop (September 7, 2022) * ''We Should be Dancing'' (Produced by Night Tempo) by KAKKO and TAKASHI (July 8, 2022) * ''Headphone Girl-Tsubasa ga Nakutemo'' (March 9, 2022) * ''Dramatic Pink Bikini'' by sooogood! feat. Takashi Fujii (October 10, 2018) * ''Mammottemitai'' (January 4, 2017) * ''Plastic Star'' (December 14, 2016) * ''Dining Tarot'' under Like a Record round! round! round! (November 26, 2014) * ''kappo!'' under Like a Record round! round! round! (November 26, 2014) * ''Now Romantic'' under Like a Record round! round! round! (September 18, 2014) * '' Disco no Kamisama'' by

tofubeats , known professionally as Tofubeats, is a Japanese singer, record producer, and DJ. Kawai began producing music at the age of 14, under the name "DJ Newtown". He initially distributed his music online through websites such as 2channel and YouTub ...

feat. Takashi Fujii (April 30, 2014) * ''Selfish Girl'' by SMALL BOYS feat. Takashi Fujii (December 25, 2013) * ''She is my new town/I just want to hold you'' (June 5, 2013) * ''Yabe~ Nabe~na Atsuryoku'' by THE PosshuBō with Oto no Moto (Takashi Fujii and Oniyakko Tsubaki) (2010) * ''Manatsu no Yo no Yume'' (August 1, 2007) * ''Watashi no Aoi Sora'' (July 7, 2004) * ''Mikakunin Hikoutai'' (February 14, 2002) * ''Zetsubō Good Bye'' (December 12, 2001) * ''Ai mo Kawarazu'' (November 1, 2000) * ''Nanda Kanda'' (March 8, 2000) EPs * ''RE:WIND'' (July 14, 2017) * ''DJ MIX "Delicacy" mixed by DJ DC BRAND'S'' (July 13, 2016) * ''Daisougen no Chiisana Matthew'' as Matthew Minami (September 13, 2006) * ''OH MY JULIET!'' (October 19, 2005)

Albums

* ''Music Restaurant Royal Host'' (September 9, 2022) * ''Light Showers'' (September 13, 2017) * ''Coffee Bar Cowboy'' (June 17, 2015) * ''Shanghai Taiwan II'' (May 23, 2007) * ''Shanghai Taiwan'' (April 26, 2006) * ''All by Myself'' (July 28, 2004) * ''Romeo Michiyuki'' (February 14, 2002) As Producer and/or Songwriter * ''Makarova'' (EP) by Terumoto Gōto (May 11, 2022) * ''Slenderie Ideal'' (Album) by Various Artists (October 28, 2020) * ''IVKI'' (EP) by Oniyakko Tsubaki (September 12, 2018) * ''Delicacy of Love'' (EP) by

Yu Hayami is a Japanese singer and television personality. In 2011, the Japanese music television program ''Music Station'' listed her as the 50th all-time best-selling idol in Japan, with 2,850,000 records sold. Childhood and education Hayami was b ...

(August 24, 2016) Tour DVDs * ''Takashi Fujii World Tour Watashi no Aoi Sora 2004'' (October 9, 2005) * ''Takashi Fujii World Tour 2005'' (April 26, 2005) * ''Takashi Fujii Romeo no Michiyuki 2002'' (December 18, 2002) ** Re-released in 2020

References

External links

Takashi Fujii Official Fan Club

Official website for ''Matthew's Best Hit UV'' on TV Asahi
*

Sony Music official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujii, Takashi 1972 births Living people Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Singers from Toyonaka, Osaka Japanese male comedians 21st-century Japanese male singers 21st-century Japanese singers