Sakipon: The Japanese Comedian Acting Out Love Stories With Partners You Never See
Meet Sakipon, a Japanese comedian who acts out crushes, dates and family visits opposite a partner you never see. Here's where to start.
Who Is Sakipon?
Sakipon is a solo comedian with the Japanese agency Production Jinrikisha. Sakipon's act is built on one-person sketches: short, self-contained scenes in which Sakipon plays a single character talking to someone the audience never actually sees.
Sakipon comes from Kurume, in Fukuoka Prefecture, and trained at School JCA as a member of its 25th class. The official profile lists "romantic daydreaming" as both a hobby and a special skill, which feels about right for a comedian whose sketches so often begin with a crush. Real-life escape rooms also make the list of pastimes.
Love Stories, One Side of the Conversation at a Time
Our editors see Sakipon coming back again and again to romance and to the moments people play out in their heads: getting stuck in a room with a crush after school, the night before a big tournament, an anniversary date, a college student demanding to know why her boyfriend has been too busy to see her lately. Family shows up too. In one sketch, a grown son comes home wanting to do something nice for his mother.
Sakipon usually plays the woman at the center of the scene, whether she's a girlfriend, a high schooler, a part-timer at a food stand or a mom. The other person exists only through her reactions, so much of the fun is filling in the half of the conversation you don't hear. The settings stay close to everyday life: school clubs, part-time jobs, trips home. One sketch borrows its setup straight from shojo manga, Japanese comics aimed at girls that often center on teen romance.
Where to Start
"Locked In with My Crush": After school, a girl ends up shut inside the science prep room (the small storage room next to the lab where equipment is kept) with Nobu, the boy she likes.
"The Turkish Ice Cream Stand": A woman working at a Turkish ice cream stand gets a visit from her ex, Yu. They split up last month, and now he wants to get back together.
"The Basketball Team Manager": Japanese high school sports teams often have student managers who look after the players and keep records. It's the night before the Inter-High, Japan's national high school championship and the last big tournament for the team's seniors. The captain is staying late to practice, and he has something he wants to tell the manager.
Our pick for a first watch is "Locked In with My Crush." Its setup is a classic romance-comic scenario, which makes it an easy way to see how Sakipon builds a scene around one character and an unseen partner.
Locked In With My Crush
Locked in a science supply room with a crush, a student is a little too thrilled.
3:25
An Ex at the Ice Cream Stand
An ex wants another chance. The ice cream seller keeps pulling the cone out of reach.
2:53
Where Have You Been?
A girlfriend asks why her boyfriend's never around. Every answer gets another question.
2:58
Too Flustered to Function
Every sweet word sends a flustered girlfriend into a full-body meltdown.
2:19
We use AI as part of how we create our articles.
Subtitles on this video: AI translation from the Japanese.