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.
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 rikishi — 71.1× the global rate.
Kobe under-produces writer — only 0.4× the global rate.
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.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Music
- Art & Design
- Politics & Law
- Writing
- Other
- Field: Judo Clear ×
Kanō Jigorō
1860 - 1938
Shinji Hosokawa
Born 1960
Yoshiyuki Matsuoka
Born 1957
Hifumi Abe
Born 1997
Sumiyuki Kotani
1903 - 1991
Uta Abe
Born 2000
Yuki Hashimoto
Born 1989
Kim Eui-tae
Born 1941
Sotaro Fujiwara
Born 1998
Keiko Teshima
Born 1980
Kento Masaki
Born 1987
Manami Inoue
Born 1992
Kumiko Horie
Born 1982
Eiji Maruki
Born 1943