# Ryota Yamasato (山里亮太)
**Ryota Yamasato** (山里亮太; born 1977) is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, and radio host, known by the nickname **Yama-chan** (山ちゃん) and for his trademark red glasses. He is the tsukkomi (straight-man) half of the comedy duo **Nankai Candies** (南海キャンディーズ), and since 2023 he has been the main presenter of the Nippon TV morning information program *DayDay.*[1](https://profile.yoshimoto.co.jp/talent/detail?id=135) • [2](https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2421964/full/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1977, Chiba Prefecture; 178 cm, 80 kg, blood type AB[1](https://profile.yoshimoto.co.jp/talent/detail?id=135) |
| Comedy duo | Nankai Candies, formed in 2003 with Shizuyo Yamasaki after entering Yoshimoto's NSC Osaka training school (22nd class, 1999)[1](https://profile.yoshimoto.co.jp/talent/detail?id=135) • [3](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/ja/assets/pdf/about/pr/press_release/2023/Nojr12.pdf) |
| Education | Kansai University, Faculty of Literature, education department, graduated 2001[3](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/ja/assets/pdf/about/pr/press_release/2023/Nojr12.pdf) |
| Signature solo live | *Yamasato Ryota no 140*, a one-man talk show touring Japan since 2011, whose recordings have never been released outside the venues[4](https://www.yamasato365.com/yamasatoryota-140) |
| Radio | *Suiyō Junk: Yamasato Ryota no Fumō na Giron* (TBS Radio, Wednesdays 1:00–3:00 am), which reached its 500th broadcast on 6 November 2019[5](https://realsound.jp/tech/2019/11/post-438699.html) |
| Morning TV | MC of Nippon TV's *DayDay.* since 2023[2](https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2421964/full/) |
| Marriage | Married actress Yu Aoi; he was 42 at the time of the announcement[6](https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20190626-849194/) |
## Early life and formation of Nankai Candies
Yamasato is from [Chiba Prefecture](https://www.edgepedia.org/chiba-prefecture), but as a third-year high school student he decided he wanted to become a comedian and to move to Osaka, deliberately choosing a Kansai university for that reason.[7](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/headlines/entry/post_71669.php) • [8](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202604050000480.html) He entered Kansai University's Faculty of Literature, studying in the education department, and graduated in 2001.[3](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/ja/assets/pdf/about/pr/press_release/2023/Nojr12.pdf)
He has repeatedly credited his university years with making his career possible. Living in the dormitory Hokuto-ryō, he said, was decisive: without that experience, "today's Yamasato the comedian" would not exist.[7](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/headlines/entry/post_71669.php) University life was enjoyable enough that he briefly considered giving up comedy and even thought of becoming a Kansai University staff member.[8](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202604050000480.html) While still a student he entered NSC, the Yoshimoto Kogyo talent training school, joining its Osaka 22nd class in 1999, and in 2003 he formed the manzai (Japanese two-person stand-up comedy with a funny man and straight man) duo Nankai Candies with Shizuyo Yamasaki (山崎静代).[1](https://profile.yoshimoto.co.jp/talent/detail?id=135) • [3](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/ja/assets/pdf/about/pr/press_release/2023/Nojr12.pdf)
## Television, radio, and hosting
Yamasato works across television, radio, events, and narration, with sharp tsukkomi and distinctive word choice as his stated tools.[9](https://rooftop1976.com/interview/140701180000.php) Since 2023 he has served as the morning face of Nippon TV's *DayDay.*, a live weekday information program; he has described the role as a new challenge, and in 2026 he told a magazine interviewer that his surroundings had changed greatly since his previous alumni-journal interview four years earlier.[2](https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2421964/full/) • [10](https://kandai-koyukai.com/member/interview/interview21.html) His weekly schedule, as he described it in 2026, includes *DayDay.* Monday through Friday, the Wednesday-late-night TBS Radio program, and live shows around the country roughly every other Saturday.[11](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202607120000900.html)
**Radio.** His long-running late-night program *Suiyō Junk: Yamasato Ryota no Fumō na Giron* ("Fruitless Debate") airs Wednesdays from 1:00 to 3:00 am on TBS Radio; it marked its 500th broadcast on 6 November 2019.[5](https://realsound.jp/tech/2019/11/post-438699.html)
**Competition MC work.** Yamasato has become a regular host of comedy contests. He has been the MC of the ABC Owarai Grand Prix for six consecutive years through the 46th edition in 2025, a contest restricted to performers with ten years or less of professional experience.[12](https://thetv.jp/news/detail/1274567/) He has also hosted Mynavi Laugh Night from its first edition in 2015 through its tenth, making him the only comedian to appear on that stage across its whole history.[13](https://tbsradio.g.kuroco-img.app/files/user/pdf/TBS%20RADIO%20PRESS%202024_101112.pdf)
**Talk and film programs.** On WOWOW he hosts *Friday Midnight Theater*, a monthly conversation series in which guests from across the entertainment world discuss films; the program had run for one year and eight months and welcomed twenty guests by late 2022.[14](https://note.wowow.co.jp/n/nf0624dc5dfc5) He has also presented a program about the [Takarazuka Revue](https://www.edgepedia.org/takarazuka-revue), *Yamasato Ryota no Takarazuka Danshi ni Natte mo Ii Desu ka?* (BS Scapa!, from April 2022), saying he hoped even one more person would take an interest in [Takarazuka](https://www.edgepedia.org/takarazuka).[15](https://www.tvguide.or.jp/feature/feature-1547412/)
## Yamasato Ryota no 140
Since 2011 Yamasato has run a solo live tour, *Yamasato Ryota no 140*, which he calls his life's work. The show is a one-man talk performance that tours venues across Japan year-round, and its content is subject to a strict secrecy rule: attendees are asked not to describe what happens, and according to the official site no video or audio recording has ever been taken out of a venue.[4](https://www.yamasato365.com/yamasatoryota-140) The title refers to the 140-character limit of a Twitter post; the format began as events in which Yamasato looked back at his own past tweets.[16](https://live.yoshimoto.co.jp/catalog/2023/yoshimoto_catalog2023-2024.pdf) In interviews he has described the tour as a kind of "license renewal" for himself as a performer, a place to speak frankly to audiences nationwide.[17](https://engekisengen.com/genre/comedy/97782/) The 2026 schedule included performances in Osaka (Namba Grand Kagoku, October), Tokyo (Kinokuniya Hall, November), Ishikawa (December), Okinawa, and Nagasaki.[18](https://l-tike.com/search/?keyword=%E5%B1%B1%E9%87%8C%E4%BA%AE%E5%A4%AA) • [19](https://kitakyu-kyogo.or.jp/wpkitakyuusyuu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/7_P_kyusyuokinawa_0406.pdf)
## Tarinai Futari and the partnership with Wakabayashi
Yamasato has a long professional and personal connection with Masayasu Wakabayashi of the duo Audrey, his comedy-generation peer. The two co-starred in the Nippon TV late-night program *Tarinai Futari* ("The Two Who Are Not Enough"), in which they expose their own personal shortcomings and build original manzai around them.[20](https://twinavi.jp/interview/tarinaifutari) After more than four and a half years off the air, the program returned in December 2025 as *Tarinai Futari 2025*, with two consecutive weekly broadcasts; the reunion recording drew heavily sold-out audiences and material drawing on both men's current careers, including Yamasato's morning-show role and Wakabayashi's Tokyo Dome live, which had drawn 53,000 attendees with 156,707 total viewers including viewings and streaming.[2](https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2421964/full/)
## Voice acting and other work
Yamasato's distinctive voice has supported a steady side career in dubbing and animation. His credits include *Detective Conan: Full Score of Fear* (2008), *Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels* (2012), *One Piece Stampede* (2019), and the *Doraemon* film *Nobita's Sky Utopia* (2023), and he voiced Garfield in the Japanese dub of *The Garfield Movie* (2024), saying that becoming a father himself had changed how he watched the story.[21](https://lee.hpplus.jp/column/3003072/) He has also written about games and streaming: in 2019 he ran the channel "Yamasato no Kuruma" on the live-streaming app Mirrativ, broadcasting around his radio show, and described being absorbed by *Final Fantasy VI* as a high school student.[5](https://realsound.jp/tech/2019/11/post-438699.html)
## Method and self-description
Yamasato describes himself as an effort-driven performer rather than a natural talent. He has said he turns inferiority, jealousy, and frustration into fuel, and that he now analyzes those feelings more calmly to decide what specifically to improve.[10](https://kandai-koyukai.com/member/interview/interview21.html) He keeps a daily notebook whose cover reads "Don't forget!" and records failures in notebooks as material for reflection; the collection has grown past 300 volumes, an accumulation he calls the source of his confidence.[10](https://kandai-koyukai.com/member/interview/interview21.html) Watching award contests, he has said, he thinks "I should absolutely lose," and that he lives with that feeling as his engine.[22](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202607050000637.html)
In 2026 he was appointed a **Kansai University Graduate Ambassador**, an alumni role intended to widen the university's network, with an inauguration ceremony at the Senriyama campus in April 2026.[8](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202604050000480.html) • [23](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/ja/assets/pdf/about/pr/press_release/2025/No86.pdf) At the ceremony he said he wants to keep making effort for as long as he can speak as a comedian.[8](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202604050000480.html)
## References
1. [Yamasato Ryota profile, Yoshimoto Kogyo](https://profile.yoshimoto.co.jp/talent/detail?id=135)
2. [Yamasato Ryota & Wakabayashi Masayasu, "Tarinai Futari" revival, Oricon News, 4 December 2025](https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2421964/full/)
3. [Nankai Candies Yamasato Ryota (Kansai University graduate), Kansai University press release Nojr12](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/ja/assets/pdf/about/pr/press_release/2023/Nojr12.pdf)
4. [Yamasato Ryota no 140, official site](https://www.yamasato365.com/yamasatoryota-140)
5. [Yamasato Ryota's game history and streaming, Real Sound Tech, November 2019](https://realsound.jp/tech/2019/11/post-438699.html)
6. [Yamasato Ryota "I am the effort type", Mynavi News, 26 June 2019](https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20190626-849194/)
7. [Nankai Candies Yama-chan's method of effort, KANDAI HEADLINES, Kansai University](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/headlines/entry/post_71669.php)
8. [Yamasato Ryota appointed Kansai University graduate ambassador, Nikkan Sports, 5 April 2026](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202604050000480.html)
9. [Yamasato Ryota (Nankai Candies), Rooftop interview, July 2014](https://rooftop1976.com/interview/140701180000.php)
10. [Yamasato Ryota alumni interview, Kansai University alumni association magazine Kandai](https://kandai-koyukai.com/member/interview/interview21.html)
11. [Yamasato Ryota reveals his weekly schedule, Nikkan Sports, 12 July 2026](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202607120000900.html)
12. [Yamasato Ryota on the 46th ABC Owarai Grand Prix, WEB The Television](https://thetv.jp/news/detail/1274567/)
13. [Mynavi Laugh Night 10th edition, TBS Radio press release](https://tbsradio.g.kuroco-img.app/files/user/pdf/TBS%20RADIO%20PRESS%202024_101112.pdf)
14. [Yamasato Ryota interview on Friday Midnight Theater, WOWOW note, 17 November 2022](https://note.wowow.co.jp/n/nf0624dc5dfc5)
15. [Yamasato Ryota Takarazuka interview, TV Guide Web, 31 May 2022](https://www.tvguide.or.jp/feature/feature-1547412/)
16. [Yoshimoto self-run program catalog 2023–2024](https://live.yoshimoto.co.jp/catalog/2023/yoshimoto_catalog2023-2024.pdf)
17. [Yamasato Ryota no 140 interview, Roche Engeki Sengen!](https://engekisengen.com/genre/comedy/97782/)
18. [Ticket search results for Yamasato Ryota, Lawson Ticket](https://l-tike.com/search/?keyword=%E5%B1%B1%E9%87%8C%E4%BA%AE%E5%A4%AA)
19. [Kyushu/Okinawa performance listing PDF, Kitakyushu Arts](https://kitakyu-kyogo.or.jp/wpkitakyuusyuu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/7_P_kyusyuokinawa_0406.pdf)
20. [Twinavi Interview Vol. 17: Yamasato Ryota & Wakabayashi Masayasu](https://twinavi.jp/interview/tarinaifutari)
21. [Yamasato Ryota on The Garfield Movie, LEE](https://lee.hpplus.jp/column/3003072/)
22. [Yamasato Ryota on comedy award contests, Nikkan Sports, 5 July 2026](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202607050000637.html)
23. [Graduate ambassador activities, Kansai University press release No86](https://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/ja/assets/pdf/about/pr/press_release/2025/No86.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Theater and dance › Stand-up comedy and comedians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license