Atsugiri Jason

Danielson was born in Michigan, United States. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as an engineering major and traveled to Japan for a one-year internship in 2005 to develop English speech recognition software.^[1][3] He earned a bachelor's degree and master's degree in computer science.^[4] In 2011, Danielson returned to Japan and formed the Japanese branch of an IT company he worked for in Chicago.^[3] Along with his career in entertainment, Danielson continues to work full-time at the IT company.^[2][3]

In 2007, Danielson married a Japanese woman, who he met when he first went to Japan in 2005, with their wedding ceremony held in the United States.^[1] They have three daughters: Lisa (リサ), Ailee (アイリ),^[1] and Michelle (ミシェル).^[5][6]

While in Japan in 2005, Danielson became interested in Japanese comedy after watching The God of Entertainment [ja].^[1] Two years after he returned to Japan, he attended a show held by the Japanese comedy duo Xabungle [ja], where he became acquainted with Ayumu Kato and was introduced to his agency, Watanabe Entertainment.^[1] He then trained at the agency's program, Watanabe Comedy School.^[7] Danielson's comedy routines based on his confusion with kanji, which he writes on a board behind him and ends with him yelling, "Why Japanese people?!" in English.^[2] He initially considered focusing on political criticism like American comedians but did not feel that it would be accepted by a Japanese audience.^[7] Danielson's stage name, Atsugiri, meaning 'thick-sliced' in Japanese, originated from Atsugi, where he was living at the time, and because his chest is thick.^[1][3]

After only four months of training, in October 2014,^[2] he made his first television appearance on R-1 Grand Prix 2015, where he attracted media attention for being the first non-Japanese finalist competing in the history of the show.^[8] Shortly after the show ended, Danielson appeared in a web-exclusive video featured as part of the advertising campaign of Nissin Foods' yakisoba UFO [ja].^[9]

On November 8, 2015, Danielson released his first book, Nihon no Mina-san ni Otsutaeshitai 48 no Why.^[10] In February 2016, Danielson was announced as a host of the educational program Why? Programming, which was broadcast on NHK from March 21 to 25, 2016.^[4] On December 14, 2016, Danielson released his second book, Jason Shiki Eigo Training: Oboenai Eiei Tango 400.^[11] For the book's promotional event, he led an English class for 200 people, during which he stated that he was retiring his "Why Japanese people?!" catch phrase.^[11]