34.6907° N, 135.5093° E

OSAKA

Most Famous People Born in Osaka, Japan

Notable people
1,327
Peak decade
1980s
Median birth year
1969
Most distinctive
Seiyū 79.4×

Japan's second commercial capital, with a comedy and entertainment bench that runs nearly as deep as Tokyo's. Osaka's distinctive professions are voice actors (seiyū) at nearly eighty times the global rate, manga artists at nearly sixty, sumo wrestlers (rikishi), martial artists, figure skaters, gymnasts, wrestlers, and novelists — the statistical footprint of Yoshimoto Kogyo, the sumo stables of the Kansai, and a publishing industry that has always argued with Tokyo's. Almost the entire list is 20th-century.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 224 notable births.

What Osaka Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Osaka's biggest profession — 16% of all notables (214).

Osaka over-indexes on seiyū79.4× the global rate.

Osaka under-produces politician — only 0.2× the global rate.

  1. Football214
  2. Actor109
  3. Singer89
  4. Player61
  5. Seiyū50
  6. Politician32
  7. Manga32
  8. Swimmer28
  1. Seiyū5079.4×
  2. Manga3259.0×
  3. Rikishi1756.4×
  4. Martial Art1611.8×
  5. Skater196.0×
  6. Gymnast135.7×
  7. Wrestler235.4×
  8. Novelist265.0×
  1. Politician320.2×
  2. Writer200.5×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Other
All1,327
Sort By

Showing 16 of 1,327 notable people

0044 FEMINIST

Kanno Sugako

1881 - 1911

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0052 PHYSICIST

Hidetsugu Yagi

1886 - 1976

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0102 MILITAR

Nobutake Kondō

1886 - 1953

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0113 POET

Shinobu Orikuchi

1887 - 1953

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0145 POLITICIAN

Naotake Satō

1882 - 1971

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0217 PAINTER

Narashige Koide

1887 - 1931

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0220 PAINTER

Kagaku Murakami

1888 - 1939

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0239 COMPOSER

Kiyoshi Nobutoki

1887 - 1965

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0271 BOTANIST

Chōzaburō Tanaka

1885 - 1976

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0332 CHEMIST

Akira Ogata

1887 - 1978

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0593 PHOTOGRAPHER

George Masa

1881 - 1933

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0903 HISTORIAN

Nishida Naojirō

1886 - 1964

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0957 POET

Chino Masako

1880 - 1946

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0982 MILITAR

Masao Watanabe

1888 - 1950

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1102 BUSINESS

Koyata Yamamoto

1886 - 1963

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1197 MILITAR

Tsunejirō Ishii

1887 - 1951

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