Umehara Keiji (Singapore YouTuber)

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Umehara Keiji
Umehara Keiji.png
Born1990
EducationDiploma in Information Technology
Alma materRepublic Polytechnic

Umehara Keiji (born 1990) is a Singaporean YouTuber and online personality. As of May 2020, Keiji has more than 74,000 subscribers on YouTube and 29,000 followers on Instagram.

Background

Early life & family

Keiji and Rei Umehara pictured in a 2016 interview with AXN. Photo from YouTube video.

Keiji was born to a Japanese father and a Singaporean-Chinese mother.[1][2] He has an older brother, Ken Umehara and an older sister, Rei Umehara.[3][4] Keiji and his siblings were raised in Singapore.[5][6] In an interview with The New Paper, Rei shared that the Umehara family is very close despite some hiccups in their younger years. She recalled throwing a ceramic door stopper at Keiji's head because he had been annoying her at the time.[7]

Education

Keiji attended Pioneer Primary School and continued his studies at Pioneer Secondary School.[8][9] He subsequently went to ITE College West where he graduated with a Higher Nitec in Information Technology. He then furthered his studies at Republic Polytechnic (RP), graduating with a Diploma in Information Technology.[10][11] In RP, he represented the school in competitive rugby where he was a part the winning team for three consecutive years.[12] Keiji studied Chinese as his second-language in Singapore and is not fluent in Japanese.[13]

Early career - Creative producer at TheSmartLocal (2015 - 2016)

Before becoming a full-time freelance creator, Keiji was a part of TheSmartLocal's video team.[14] He had appeared frequently in Season 1 of the TSL YouTube series, Singaporeans Try - having had a hand in developing the segment.[15] Keiji left the company in February 2016 after eight months.[16]

YouTube

Umehara Keiji - Content creator (2012 - present day)

Keiji pictured in one of his signature thumbnails on YouTube. Thumbnail from YouTube video.

On his channel, Keiji posts a variety of vlog-style content - from capturing his experiences at arcades to documenting his travels. The oldest upload on his channel is a travel video titled "A Trip To Motherland" dated 25 September 2012. As of May 2020, Keiji's most popular video is “Winning an Ipad at the Arcade” with over 635,000 views. The 2016 video was the last episode for his channel series Arcade Ninja.

Wah!Banana - Talent (2017 - present day)

Keiji was one of the personalities selected for an AMA video on Wah!Banana's secondary channel. Thumbnail from YouTube video.

As of 2020, Keiji is a talent at Wah!Banana.[17] Although it is not clear when exactly he joined the channel, Keiji has appeared in Wah!Banana's videos as early as 2017.[18][19] Since then, he has been established as one of the channel's key cast members. The following is a list of some of his notable appearances since 2017.

Year Channel Video title Refs.
2020 Wah!banana Too Killer Game S4E1 Super Killer Edition - Keiji Hates Fake Detectives Video link
WAH THE FUN! EP3 - Spyfall Video link
2019 Wah!Banana O'Clock: Keiji AMA Video link
Wah!Banana My friend Is A Ghost Video link
2018 12 Zodiac Signs In The Gym Video link
2017 How People Drink Video link

Collaborations

Advertorials & brand representation

Keiji pictured in the thumbnail of the 2017 video with Shopback.

In 2017, Keiji was given $4,000 to shop and identify good deals at any of ShopBack’s merchants.[20] He produced videos documenting his shopping experiences as the "Chief Shopping Officer". That same year, Keiji, Dee Kosh and Saffron Sharpe were invited to participate in The Great Fiji Challenge - a campaign involving Tourism Fiji and Fiji Airways.

Year Brand Video title Refs.
2018 Lazada $29 & $49 LAZADA MYSTERY BOX! Lazada 6th Birthday Event Video link
Jetstar Traveling with a Stranger (Hatyai) #JetstarCheapestRace Video link
2017 Tourism Fiji, Fiji Airways The Great Fiji Challenge Video link
What I did at Fiji (Win Air Tickets to Fiji) Video link
ShopBack Announcing ShopBack’s very first Chief Shopping Officer Video link

Guest features

Keiji pictured in Episode 7 of Cheap Cheap vs. Atas where he was an invited guest host.

The following table lists some of Keiji's notable appearances on media platforms other than his own.

Year Channel Video title Refs.
2018 MeWatch Cheap Cheap vs Atas - EP7 Video link
Cheap Cheap vs Atas - EP8 Video link
2014 TreePotatoes People Who Piss You Off (Ft. Dim Sum Dollies and Keiji Umehara) Video link
Trevmonki The Smoothie Challenge (Ft. Noah Yap, Amandersings & Umeandhara Keiji) Video link

Other endeavours

In 2013, Keiji won the first prize in a short film competition hosted by Jack Neo. He has also worked as a Game Host at The Mind Cafe for about four months in 2013.

The Amazing Race Asia 5 (2016) - Participant

Keiji and his sister, Rei represented Singapore in the fifth season of The Amazing Race Asia which aired on AXN in October 2016.[21][22][23] The duo was eliminated in the first episode.[24][25]

References/ Citations

  1. Low, Tracy. “Singapore siblings to take on Amazing Race Asia”. The New Paper. July 28, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  2. AXN Asia. Facebook. August 31, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/axnasia/photos/a.377323734405/10154618500444406/?type=1&theater
  3. umeandhara. Instagram. April 11, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BEEM7c0B-iy/
  4. Umehara Keiji. “I Am The Best Brother- Vlog #16”. YouTube. November 13, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  5. Tan, Brina. “Local radio DJs and Japanese-Singaporeans siblings to compete in new season of The Amazing Race Asia”. The Straits Times. July 28, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  6. Low, Tracy. “Singapore siblings to take on Amazing Race Asia”. The New Paper. July 28, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  7. Low, Tracy. “Singapore siblings to take on Amazing Race Asia”. The New Paper. July 28, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  8. Work and education”. Facebook. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  9. Umehara Keiji. “Spicy Noodle Ask Me Anything - FoodTalks EP2”. YouTube. November 1, 2018. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  10. Umehara Keiji”. LinkedIn. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  11. Umehara Keiji. “Assumptions About Me!”. YouTube. June 26, 2019. Accessed on 3 March 2020.
  12. umeandhara. Instagram. April 6, 2018. Accessed on 14 May 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhOB6mlAOA8/
  13. Low, Tracy. “Singapore siblings to take on Amazing Race Asia”. The New Paper. July 28, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  14. Work and education”. Facebook. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  15. Umehara Keiji. "WHY I LEFT TSL (TheSmartLocal)". YouTube. July 15, 2017. Accessed on 14 May 2020.
  16. Low, Tracy. “Singapore siblings to take on Amazing Race Asia”. The New Paper. July 28, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  17. Meet The Team”. Wah!Banana. Accessed on 3 March 2020.
  18. Wah! Banana. "90s VS NOW". YouTube. November 26, 2017. Accessed on 14 May 2020.
  19. Umehara Keiji. “I Joined Wah!Banana - Vlog #1”. YouTube. December 1, 2017. Accessed on 3 March 2020.
  20. Ng, Michelle. “Shopback’s Chief Shopping Officer is every shopaholic’s dream job”. TimeOut. February 26, 2018. Accessed on 3 March 2020.
  21. Tan, Brina. “Local radio DJs and Japanese-Singaporeans siblings to compete in new season of The Amazing Race Asia”. The Straits Times. July 28, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  22. Seah, May. “Team Singapore kicks off The Amazing Race Asia 5 at half strength”. Today Online. October 14, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  23. Tan, Brina. “A race without my honey”. The Straits Times. August 1, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  24. Freddy. “Buckle Up for The Amazing Race Asia Season 5”. InCinemas.sg. October 14, 2016. Accessed on 2 March 2020.
  25. Season 5 // Episode 1 - The Race is On!”. AXN. Accessed on 2 March 2020.