List of Famous people born in Japan

Meiko Kaji is a Japanese actress and singer. She has appeared in about 100 films, with her most famous roles being outlaw characters in early 1970s films, such as the rebels of the Stray Cat Rock series, the assassin Lady Snowblood, and the murderous Nami Matsushima from the Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion series.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is an actor, film producer and martial artist of Japanese ethnicity and citizenship of the United States and Russia.

Kenta Kurihara is a batting coach for the Chunichi Dragons.

Yoshihisa Naruse is a Japanese baseball player. He is a pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball. He made his debut in the 2006 season. In 2007, Naruse had his best season as a professional in his short career. All season long he was competing with Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters superstar Yu Darvish for the Eiji Sawamura Award, the award for best pitcher in all of Japan. In 24 starts, Naruse was 16–1 with a 1.82 ERA, with 138 strikeouts and only 27 walks in 173 and 1/3 innings. Darvish, by comparison, was 15–5 in 26 starts, also compiling a 1.82 ERA, but not only did he throw more complete games than Naruse, but Darvish also threw more innings, but he struck out more batters, with 210 punch-outs. The two ended up facing each other in the 2007 Pacific League Championship Series' deciding Game 5. Darvish triumphed over Naruse at Sapporo Dome, and the Fighters won Game 5 and the series 3–2, setting up a rematch of the 2006 Japan Series with the Chunichi Dragons. Naruse ultimately lost out to Darvish for the Sawamura Award in 2007.

Tsutomu Wakamatsu is a Japanese former baseball player, coach, and manager for the Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball. He batted left-handed, and threw right-handed. His number 1 is honoured by the Swallows.

Shogo Kimura is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays infielder for the Saitama Seibu Lions. He took up cricket with the Japan Cricket Association after going unsigned following his release by the Seibu Lions.

Tsugiharu Ogiwara is a Japanese nordic combined skier who competed from 1994 to 1998. He won the 4 x 5 km team event at the 1995 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Takayuki Kajitani is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays outfielder for the Yomiuri Giants.

Yuzuki Akiyama is a Japanese actress who rose to fame for her role in the indie film One Cut of the Dead. She is represented by her agency Asobi System. Her former stage name was Yuzuki Hashimoto .

Salyu is a Japanese singer, produced by Takeshi Kobayashi. She debuted in 2000 as the fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou for the film All About Lily Chou-Chou, and later debuted as a solo artist in 2004. She is best known for her charity single collaboration with Bank Band in 2006, "To U." Salyu has also worked as a voice actress for the Japanese-language version of the game Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (2007), in which she voiced the character Mrs. Rose . In 2011, Salyu embarked on a new solo project going by the name salyu × salyu .