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
- Field: Novelist Clear ×
Ryōtarō Shiba
1923 - 1996
Motojirō Kajii
1901 - 1932
Takeshi Kaikō
1930 - 1989
Mieko Kawakami
Born 1976
Sakunosuke Oda
1913 - 1947
Toyoko Yamasaki
1924 - 2013
Makoto Oda
1932 - 2007
Seiko Tanabe
1928 - 2019
Sanjugo Naoki
1891 - 1934
Taruho Inagaki
1900 - 1977
Kosuke Gomi
1921 - 1980
Taku Mayumura
1934 - 2019
Junzo Shono
1921 - 2009
Taeko Tomioka
Born 1935
Fumiko Kometani
Born 1930
Kikuko Tsumura
Born 1978
Yang Sok-il
Born 1936
Kim Sok-pom
Born 1925
Alice Arisugawa
Born 1959
Lee Dong-ha
Born 1942
Lin Haiyin
1918 - 2001
Taku Ashibe
Born 1958
Ryō Wada
Born 1969
Mariko Ōhara
Born 1959
Mahokaru Numata
Born 1948
Toshio Moriuchi
Born 1936