34.6910° N, 135.1826° E

KOBE

Most Famous People Born in Kobe, Japan

Notable people
742
Peak decade
1980s
Median birth year
1963
Most distinctive
Rikishi 71.1×

Kobe was Japan's most foreign-facing port long before the 1995 earthquake, and the old Kitano settlements still show in an unusual density of bilingual Novelists. The real surprises are the voice-acting studios and manga houses that clustered here postwar — Seiyū and Manga counts running at seventy and sixty-plus times their global baselines — and a Judo bench that traces back to Kanō Jigorō founding the sport down the road.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Kobe during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 110 notable births.

What Kobe Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Kobe's biggest profession — 17% of all notables (129).

Kobe over-indexes on rikishi71.1× the global rate.

Kobe under-produces writer — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Football129
  2. Actor47
  3. Politician32
  4. Baseball28
  5. Seiyū25
  6. Singer23
  7. Manga19
  8. Composer18
  1. Rikishi1271.1×
  2. Seiyū2571.0×
  3. Manga1962.6×
  4. Judo149.8×
  5. Novelist134.4×
  6. Wrestler104.2×
  7. Skater73.9×
  8. Baseball283.3×
  1. Writer90.4×
  2. Politician320.4×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Kobe's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

16501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Art & Design
  • Politics & Law
  • Writing
  • Other
All742
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Showing 7 of 742 notable people

0233 JUDO

Uta Abe

Born 2000

Preview
0302 SKATER

Kaori Sakamoto

Born 2000

Preview
0304 FOOTBALL

Kohei Okuno

Born 2000

Preview
0331 DIVER

Minami Itahashi

Born 2000

Preview
0433 FOOTBALL

Yuki Kobayashi (footballer, born 2000)

Born 2000

Preview
0499 SKATER

Moa Iwano

Born 2004

Preview
0558 FOOTBALL

Tsubasa Adachi

Born 2000

Preview