List of Famous people born in Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Makoto Sasaki
Makoto Sasaki is a former Japanese professional baseball outfielder.
Yuki Ishii
Yuki Ishii is a Japanese volleyball player who plays for Hisamitsu Springs. She also plays for the All-Japan women's volleyball team.
Kiyoshi Shigematsu
Kiyoshi Shigematsu is a contemporary Japanese writer. He is one of the best-selling authors in Japan, and the major theme of his novels is about family. His most notable works include Naifu (ナイフ) (1997), Eiji (エイジ) (1999) and Bitamin F (ビタミンF) (2000).
Yuko Arimori
Yuko Arimori is a Japanese professional marathon runner and a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Masaji Hiramatsu
Masaji Hiramatsu is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He played for the Taiyo Whales / Yokohama Taiyo Whales from 1967 to 1984. He won the Eiji Sawamura Award in 1970.
Shingo Wake
Shingo Wake is a Japanese professional boxer and former OPBF super bantamweight champion. He trained under Satoshi Koguchi at Koguchi Boxing Gym in Tokyo. Wake was scouted early by Koguchi, who spotted his talent and persuaded him to move to Tokyo and pursue a boxing career. He has since changed boxing gym and now trains at Flare boxing gym. A southpaw, Wake is dubbed a "sharp shooter" due to his accuracy and speed in the ring.
Keizō Nakanishi
Keizo Nakanishi is a Japanese singer-songwriter and composer. He graduated from Okayama Prefectural Kurashiki Amagi High School and Nihon University College of Economics.
Shin Koyamada
Shin Koyamada is a Japanese-born American actor, producer and philantropist.
Saburo Ohmura
Saburo Ohmura is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League.
Yukari Ichijo
Yukari Ichijo is a Japanese shōjo and josei manga artist. She debuted in 1968 with Yuki no Serenade. In 1986 she received the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo for Yūkan Club, and in 2007, she received an Excellence Prize in manga at the Japan Media Arts Festival for Pride. Several of her series have been dramatized, including Yūkan Club as an anime OVA and Designer and Tadashii Ren'ai no Susume as high-rated live-action television dramas. A live-action film based on her work Pride was released in 2009.