Akira Kawashima

Akira Kawashima (川島 明, Kawashima Akira, born February 3, 1979, in Uji, Kyoto) is a Japanese comedian, tarento and actor who has featured in films, television, and radio. He performs boke and writes all the material in his comedy duo Kirin. His partner is Hiroshi Tamura. Kawashima is represented by Yoshimoto Kogyo and is mainly active in Tokyo and Osaka.

Kawashima graduated from the 20th generation Yoshimoto NSC Osaka. He formed the comedy duo Kirin with Hiroshi Tamura in 1999 and rose to popularity after becoming a finalist in the 1st M-1 Grand Prix in 2001. Kirin continued to make strides as they entered the finals 5 out of the 8 times they entered the M-1 Grand Prix, becoming active in manzai despite their initial focus on the genre of conte. In 2010, Kawashima entered the R-1 Grand Prix and was a finalist, finishing in 4th place overall. Kawashima was engaged in 2015 and married on March 8, 2016. Later that year in November 2016, Kawashima won his first oogiri winning title on Ippon Grand Prix, defeating the then three-time champion Bakarhythm. From then on, Kawashima was a regular on Ippon Grand Prix, almost winning his second and back to back title against Chihara Junior in May 2017, but lost as the runners-up. Kawashima continues to perform as a television personality.