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.
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 seiyū — 79.4× the global rate.
Osaka under-produces politician — only 0.2× the global rate.
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.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Music
- Art & Design
- Writing
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1920s Clear ×
Leo Esaki
Born 1925
Machiko Kyō
1924 - 2019
Ryōtarō Shiba
1923 - 1996
Michio Morishima
1923 - 2004
Toyoko Yamasaki
1924 - 2013
Taeko Kono
1926 - 2015
Kazumasa Nagai
Born 1929
Shozo Shimamoto
1928 - 2013
Seiko Tanabe
1928 - 2019
Kosuke Gomi
1921 - 1980
Noriko Ibaragi
1926 - 2006
Junzo Shono
1921 - 2009
Katsumi Nomizu
1924 - 2008
Tatsuo Nishida
1928 - 2012
Kim Sok-pom
Born 1925
Isao Okawa
1926 - 2001
Taro Nakayama
Born 1924
Jun-iti Nagata
1925 - 2007
Dainin Katagiri
1928 - 1990
Etsuko Inada
1924 - 2003
Tsunehisa Kimura
1928 - 2008
Takeo Matsubara
1921 - 2014
Ryūsei Hasegawa
1928 - 2019
Yasushi Takahashi
1924 - 2013
Shozo Yoshigami
1928 - 1996
Akinori Matsuo
1928 - 2010
Takashi Hiraoka
Born 1927
Hirokazu Kobayashi (aikidoka)
1929 - 1998
Sigeru Mizohata
1924 - 2002
Akira Makino
1922 - 2007
Kōichi Iiboshi
1927 - 1996
Takashi Nomura
1927 - 2015
Kazuo Kageyama
1927 - 1965
Yoshihide Momotani
Born 1928
Yasuki Hiramatsu
Born 1926
Shuchi Kubouchi
1920 - 2020
Tokutaro Takayama
1928 - 2003
Yoshikuni Araki
1921 - 1997
Saburo Date
1924 - 1991
Akira Nishiguchi
1925 - 1970
Sanshiro Kume
1926 - 2009
Suzushi Hanayagi
1928 - 2010
Toyoaki Matsuura
1929 - 2011
Takayama Ryūzō
1929 - 2019
Yasushi Niki
1925 - 2016
Michitaka Kinami
1920 - 2008
Kaoru Nishimoto
1924 - 2012
Keizō Inoue
1922 - 2002
Hiroshi Okada
Born 1923