Junichi Kato (via Junichi Kato/Instagram)
Junichi Kato, widely renowned as Unko-chan, is one of the most famous livestreamers in Japan today. He holds the number one spot among Japanese-speaking Twitch streamers, based on data from TwitchTracker. His rise to fame has been steady over many years across different platforms. However, his personal life also came under intense public scrutiny after a major dating controversy unfolded between 2024 and 2025.Kato’s popularity on Twitch reached a major peak on September 13, 2024, when he recorded a maximum of 292,323 live viewers. This surge came just one day after he was seen sitting in the front seats at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with Japanese adult actress Ai Hongo. At that time, Kato was still married. What followed later shocked fans and reshaped public opinion about the streamer’s private life.
Junichi Kato’s career growth, girlfriend and divorce controversy
Junichi Kato began his online journey in 2009 on the Japanese video-sharing site Niconico. He streamed under the alias Unko-chan while also working as a health professional. For several years, he balanced both careers. In 2016, he left his job to focus fully on content creation. In the same year, he launched his own talent management agency, MURASH, and also began posting content on YouTube. Kato joined Twitch in 2020 and quickly built a massive audience. In March 2022, he reached an all-time high of 463,646 viewers on YouTube when he livestreamed his wedding reception. This made him one of the most-watched Japanese streamers at the time. As of now, he has over 1.29 million subscribers on YouTube and around 1.3 million followers on Twitch. He also owns a professional esports team called Murash Gaming and a beauty salon named CUT Jun in Tokyo.Kato’s dating life became public after he was photographed with Ai Hongo in September 2024. At that time, he claimed that his wife had permitted him to meet Hongo. He also stated that they were not in an intimate relationship. His wife even appeared on his livestream to confirm that she knew about the meeting.However, on September 15, 2025, Hongo revealed that she and Kato had been dating. She also said that Kato told her he was already divorced. Kato later admitted that he had been involved in an extramarital affair. On April 24, 2025, he officially announced that he and his wife were divorced.At present, Junichi Kato is publicly known to be dating Ai Hongo. The relationship remains one of the most talked-about topics in Japan’s streaming community.Also Read: Chrisean Rock sparks huge outrage for calling QTCinderella’s Streamer Awards 2025 “Racist” after RaKai’s snub
