List of Famous people born in Japan
Kōhei Shibata
Kohei Shibata is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Following a college career that included representing Japan at the 2008 World University Baseball Championship, Shibata was drafted by the Tigers in 2008 and made his first-team debut for the club in the following year. After having regular playing time in the Tigers' first team early in his career, his opportunities have reduced in recent years due to injury and the emergence of younger players.
Thomas Aquino Man’yō Maeda
Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda is a Japanese prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Osaka since 2014. He was Bishop of Hiroshima from 2011 to 2014. Pope Francis elevated him to cardinal on 28 June 2018.
Azumi Uehara
Azumi Uehara is former a Japanese adult video (AV) actress and former Japanese pop singer.
Daisuke Nishikawa
Daisuke Nishikawa is a retired Japanese gymnast who competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics and in the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Yui Sakakibara
Yui Sakakibara is a Japanese voice actress, choreographer, dancer and singer from Hyōgo Prefecture. She appeared on Kōhaku Uta Gassen as background dancer behind Ami Suzuki in 1999 and 2000. She used the name Mayo Hinano and others in her previous roles. She is also credited as FES from the band "Phantasm" (ファンタズム) in the Science Adventure visual novel series, which is a stage name of her character Ayase Kishimoto from Chaos;Head.
Naoki Higashida
The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism is a biography attributed to Naoki Higashida, a nonverbal autistic person from Japan. It was first published in Japan in 2007. The English translation, by Keiko Yoshida and her husband, English author David Mitchell, was published in 2013.
Terri Kwan
Terri Kwan is a Taiwanese actress, model, singer and author.
Yoko Matsugane
Yoko Matsugane is a Japanese gravure idol from Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. She is known for her voluptuous figure.
Akiko Chubachi
Akiko Chubachi assumed the duties of Miss Universe Japan 2007, after originally being the second runner-up. She became Miss Universe Japan after the winner, Riyo Mori, claimed the Miss Universe crown and first runner-up, Rei Hamada, turned the title down. Akiko is a graduate of Tamagawa University and has an elementary school teacher's certificate. She has travelled to 30 countries on her own doing volunteer work. She is a model and stands 5'8" (173 cm).
Masafumi Gotoh
Masafumi Gotoh is the lead vocalist, main songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the Japanese rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Masafumi met fellow band members Kensuke Kita and Takahiro Yamada while attending a music club of Kanto Gakuin University. The three formed Asian Kung-Fu Generation in 1996, with drummer Kiyoshi Ijichi joining the band shortly after. As the main songwriter of the band, Gotō is accredited for engendering a majority of their lyrics, but has a strong tendency to share songwriting duties equally among his bandmates. His vocal style most often alternates between soft, melodic singing, and harder, harsher, yelling. Masafumi has a degree in economics and his favourite artists include Weezer, Number Girl, Oasis, Teenage Fanclub, and Beck. He produces records for other artists such as Chatmonchy, Dr. Downer and The Chef Cooks Me. He was also one of the founding members of the band Skeletons (スケルトンズ).