35.6855° N, 139.7239° E

TOKYO

Most Famous People Born in Tokyo, Japan

Notable people
5,034
Peak decade
1980s
Median birth year
1957
Most distinctive
Seiyū 131.4×

An ecosystem of fame that barely exists outside Japan. Tokyo's two most distinctive professions — seiyū (voice actor) at more than 130 times the global rate and manga artist at over 60 times — are job titles that simply don't have English equivalents, and they sit alongside one of the world's biggest novelist, photographer, and model benches. The list also runs from Tokugawa shoguns through the woodblock masters of Edo to the directors and animators who exported postwar Japanese cinema to the world.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 644 notable births.

What Tokyo Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Actor is Tokyo's biggest profession — 17% of all notables (840).

Tokyo over-indexes on seiyū131.4× the global rate.

Tokyo under-produces politician — only 0.3× the global rate.

  1. Actor840
  2. Football348
  3. Seiyū314
  4. Singer250
  5. Politician203
  6. Composer143
  7. Film142
  8. Painter135
  1. Seiyū314131.4×
  2. Manga13063.2×
  3. Novelist1266.3×
  4. Model644.9×
  5. Photographer893.7×
  6. Actor8403.1×
  7. Singer2502.4×
  8. Film1422.3×
  1. Politician2030.3×
  2. Writer920.6×
  3. Football3480.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Film & TV
  • Sports
  • Music
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Other
All5,034
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Showing 4 of 5,034 notable people

0568 PAINTER

Okumura Masanobu

1686 - 1764

Preview
3066 PHILOSOPHER

Hayashi Ryūkō

1681 - 1758

Preview
4312 TOKUGAWA

Nishio Tadanao

1689 - 1760

Preview
4411 SAMURAI

Matsudaira Yoshikuni (Fukui)

1681 - 1722

Preview