Famous Japanese people
by eb-abca-bbad6 | created - 16 Oct 2012 | updated - 16 Oct 2012 | Public
1. Hayao Miyazaki
Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.
Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...
2. Ken Watanabe
Actor | The Last Samurai
Ken Watanabe was born on October 21, 1959 in Uonuma, Japan. Both of his parents were teachers: his mother taught general education and his dad taught calligraphy. He became interested in acting at the age of 24, when a director of England's National Theater Company, where he was studying, told him ...
3. Hiroyuki Sanada
Actor | Tasogare Seibei
Hiroyuki Sanada was born on October 12, 1960 in Tokyo. He made his film debut when he was 5 in Rokyoku komori-uta (1965) (Shin'ichi Chiba played the lead role.) His father died when he was 11. He joined Japan Action Club, organized & run by Sonny Chiba, when he was 12. He 1st became famous as an ...
4. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
5. Tadanobu Asano
Actor | Mongol
Tadanobu Asano's a Japanese film actor. His father suggested he take on what became his first role in the TV show Kimpachi Sensei at 16. His film debut was Swimming Upstream (1990) though his first major critical success was in Shunji Iwai's La cuisine: Fried Dragon Fish (1993). His first critical ...
6. Masi Oka
Actor | Heroes
Masayori "Masi" Oka is a Japanese American actor, producer and digital effects artist. He became widely known for his role on NBC's Heroes as Hiro Nakamura and in CBS' Hawaii Five-0 as Doctor Max Bergman. Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka. His parents divorced when he was one month old; ...
7. Takashi Miike
Director | Jûsan-nin no shikaku
Takashi Miike was born in the small town of Yao on the outskirts of Osaka, Japan. His main interest growing up was motorbikes, and for a while he harbored ambitions to race professionally. At the age of 18 he went to study at the film school in Yokohama founded by renowned director Shôhei Imamura, ...
8. Mako
Actor | Conan the Barbarian
Born in Japan, Makoto Iwamatsu was living there with his grandparents while his parents studied art in the United States, when Japan and the U.S. went to war in 1941. His parents remained in the U.S., working for the Office of War Information, and, at the cessation of the conflict, were granted U.S...
9. Takeshi Kitano
Actor | Zatôichi
Takeshi Kitano originally studied to become an engineer, but was thrown out of school for rebellious behavior. He learned comedy, singing and dancing from famed comedian Senzaburô Fukami. Working as a lift boy on a nightclub with such features as comic sketches and striptease dancing, Kitano saw ...
10. Yotta Kasai
Director | The Viscera
Yotta Kasai was born on November 5, 1987 in Japan. He is a Japanese film director, writer, producer and painter, known for The Viscera (2013), Feeding the Flesh (2013), Methadone and Amphetamine (2014) and Crown of the Archons (2017). He has directed various short films, videos and music videos. He...
11. Tatsuya Fujiwara
Actor | Batoru rowaiaru
Tatsuya Fujiwara was born on May 15, 1982 in Chichibu, Japan. He is an actor, known for Battle Royale (2000), Battle Royale II (2003) and Death Note (2006).
12. Koyuki
Actress | The Last Samurai
She rose to fame in the drama Kimi wa petto (2003) with Jun Matsumoto and gained huge popularity.
Her first international film was The Last Samurai (2003) where she played Taka, wife of a Samurai slain by the character Nathan Algren, portrayed by Tom Cruise, Koyuki was well-known in Japan for years ...
13. Mika Nakashima
Actress | Resident Evil: Retribution
Mika Nakashima's a well-known Japanese singer & actress, whose albums have reached number 1 several times on the Oricon charts. She has also starred in movies, most notably portraying 1 of the two characters named Nana in the Nana movies that are based on the manga of the same name. She played the ...
14. Shin'ichi Chiba
Actor | Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Sonny Chiba was born as Sadao Maeda in Fukuoka, Japan on January 22, 1939. His father was a military test pilot. During his youth, he had an interest in both theater & gymnastics. He was talented enough to make the Japanese Olympic Team until a chronic back injury ended his career. However, he took...
15. Yasujirô Ozu
Writer | Tôkyô monogatari
Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first ...
16. Satoshi Kon
Writer | Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film ...
17. Gackt
Actor | Bunraku
Gackt was born Gakuto Oshiro in Okinawa, Japan. His father was a music teacher, and his mother also a teacher. He is the second of three children, with an older sister and younger brother.
His musical education began early, and he started learning classical music theory and piano from the age of ...
18. Koji Yakusho
Actor | Jûsan-nin no shikaku
Yakusho Koji is an acclaimed and famed Japanese actors who has appeared in many notable films, including Tampopo, Unagi and Babel, but may be best known internationally for his role in Shall We Dance, which at the time of its release was Asia's biggest film export. He was born in the southern city ...
19. Togo Igawa
Actor | National Achievement Day
Togo Igawa is an actor/director living in England. In 1968 he joined the Theatre Centre 68 (precursor of the Black Tent Theatre), and went on to tour throughout Japan, performing in more than 120 cities. In 1983 he moved to England. In 1986, the opening season for the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon...
20. Takayuki Yamada
Actor | Jûsan-nin no shikaku
Takayuki Yamada was born on October 20, 1983. He first started out co-starring in a handful of dramas before making a big splash on Waterboys (2003). He followed up with Fireboys (2004), his award winning performance in Sekai no chûshin de, ai wo sakebu (2004), Churasan 3, H2 and legendary ...
21. Shin'ya Tsukamoto
Actor | Tetsuo
Shin'ya Tsukamoto was born on January 1, 1960 in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. He is an actor and director, known for Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Vital (2004) and Tokyo Fist (1995).
22. Takashi Shimizu
Director | Ju-on
Takashi Shimizu was born on July 27, 1972 in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Ju-on: The Grudge (2002), The Grudge (2004) and Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003).
23. Ryûhei Kitamura
Director | The Midnight Meat Train
Ryûhei Kitamura was born on May 30, 1969 in Osaka, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for The Midnight Meat Train (2008), Azumi (2003) and Versus (2000).
24. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Director | Tokyo Sonata
Kiyoshi Kurosawa was born on July 19, 1955 in Kobe, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Tokyo Sonata (2008), Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997).
25. Masanobu Andô
Actor | Batoru rowaiaru
Masanobu Andô was born on May 19, 1975 in Kanagawa, Japan. He is an actor, known for Battle Royale (2000), Kids Return (1996) and Sukiyaki Western Django (2007). He has been married to unknown since 2014. They have one child.
26. Hiroshi Abe
Actor | Aruitemo aruitemo
Hiroshi Abe was born on June 22, 1964 in Kanagawa, Japan. He is an actor, known for Still Walking (2008), Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) and After the Storm (2016).
27. Shôhei Imamura
Director | Nippon konchûki
Shohei Imamura's films dig beneath the surface of Japanese society to reveal a wellspring of sensual, often irrational, energy that lies beneath. Along with his colleagues Nagisa Ôshima and Masahiro Shinoda, Imamura began his serious directorial career as a member of the New Wave movement in Japan....
28. Hitoshi Matsumoto
Writer | Dai-Nihonjin
Hitoshi Matsumoto and his childhood friend Masatoshi Hamada teamed up as comedy duo Downtown. When they had their own TV shows in late 80s, they became phenomenal pop culture among young Japanese people. Unlike other comedy duos in Japan, they are still together, and they dominate prime time TV ...
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