List of Famous people born in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

Fuyumi Sakamoto is a Japanese female enka singer under EMI Music Japan.

Tanaka Rie is a Japanese retired artistic gymnast. She won the 2010 Longines Prize for Elegance and competed at the 2012 London Olympics. Her brothers, Kazuhito Tanaka and Yusuke Tanaka, were also Olympic artistic gymnasts.

Hiroki Kokubo is a retired professional baseball player from Wakayama, Japan.

Masaki Minami is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher. He was born on January 18, 1989. He is currently playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the NPB.

Hirofumi Hirano is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. He is a native of Katsuragi, Wakayama and he started working for Panasonic Corporation in 1971 after graduating from Chuo University. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1996 as an independent. He was the Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Yukio Hatoyama administration. He represented the 11th District of Osaka Prefecture from 1996 until 2012, and again from 2014 to the present.

Nenji Kobayashi is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for Poppoya.

Junpei Mizobata is a Japanese actor, best known as Kudo Shinichi in Detective Conan: Kudo Shinichi e no Chousenjou and Saga Kazuma in Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. He also appears in the drama Akai Ito as Atsushi Nishino.

Jin Nakatani is a Japanese former professional baseball catcher in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He played for the Hanshin Tigers in 2002, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2006, and from 2008 to 2011 and for the Yomiuri Giants in 2012. Following his retirement from the NPB, he managed at the Chiben Wakayama High School baseball team.

Fumiya Nishiguchi , born September 26, 1972 in Wakayama, Japan, is a Japanese baseball player. He is a right-handed pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball for the Saitama Seibu Lions.

Yoshimi Yoshida , better known as Yoshimi Tendo , is a Japanese enka singer. She made her debut in 1970, but only began to be recognised in 1985, after changing record company, releasing her hit single (道頓堀人情), which went on to sell over half a million copies.