List of Famous people born in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

Yoshinobu Nisaka is the governor of Wakayama Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 2006.

Masanori Sugiura is a retired Japanese Olympic baseball player from Kudoyama, Wakayama, Japan.

Taira Fujita is a Japanese former Nippon Professional Baseball infielder.

Kazuhiro Mizoguchi is a Japanese former javelin thrower. He set the world best year performance in 1989, throwing 87.60 metres at a meet in San Jose, California, United States on May 27, 1989.

Takeshi Miyamoto is a member of the Japanese Communist Party serving in the House of Representatives. He is opposed to the policy that increases competitive research funds while cutting grants to post-secondary educational institutions, saying that the policy has forced some institutions to hire retired government officials.

Masatoshi Ishida is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. He served as the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications from 2 October 2018 to 11 September 2019. A native of Kainan, Wakayama and graduate of Waseda University, he was elected to the first of his three terms in the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly in 1983 and then to the first of his two terms as mayor of Kainan in 1994. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2002.

Kazuhito Tanaka is a Japanese gymnast, Olympic silver and 3-time World medalist. Younger siblings, sister Rie Tanaka and brother Yusuke Tanaka, are both professional gymnasts.

Osamu Hamanaka is a former Japanese professional baseball player. Drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball in 1996, Hamanaka spent 11 years with the club from 1997 to 2007. Following his time with Hanshin, Hamanaka spent three seasons with the Orix Buffaloes from 2008 to 2010 and one season with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2011. In November 2014 it was announced that Hamanaka had signed a contract to return to Hanshin as a batting coach for the farm team.

Yuichi Komano is a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Noriyuki Sakemoto is a Japanese football player who plays for Kagoshima United FC.