Comedian Yoku Hata will finally be getting married to his girlfriend of 12 years.

The two met at a school festival when Hata was a second-year student at Kumamoto Gakuen University, and they began dating soon after. After Hata graduated, he decided to go to Tokyo in pursuit of a career in entertainment, and they continued with a long-distance relationship. She promised she would wait for him until he became successful.

However, Hata didn't get his big break until several years later, when he performed his "guitar samurai" routine on NTV's "The God of Entertainment" in 2004. Now active on variety shows and in commercials, he finally proposed to his girlfriend this past March when she went to Tokyo to help him move into a bigger apartment.

The two are planning to register their marriage in the middle of this month.