WYasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, making him the best-selling lyricist in Japan.
WTarō Asō is a Japanese politician serving as the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Asō previously served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009 and as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2021. He was the longest-serving Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Japanese history, having previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007 and as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications from 2003 to 2005.
WSeiichi Funahashi , also romanised Seiichi Funabashi, was a Japanese writer of short stories, novellas, novels and stage plays, active in the Shōwa period.
WYukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan.
WTakuya Hirai is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. A native of Takamatsu, Kagawa and graduate of Sophia University he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000 as a member of the New Frontier Party after running unsuccessfully as an independent in 1996. He later joined LDP.
WTakafumi Horie is a Japanese entrepreneur who founded Livedoor, a website design operation that grew into a popular internet portal. After being arrested and charged with securities fraud in 2006, he severed all connections with the company. His trial began on September 4, 2006. On March 16, 2007, Horie was sentenced to imprisonment of 2 years and 6 months.
WIchikawa Raizō VIII was a Japanese film and kabuki actor. His birth name was Akio Kamezaki , and his name was legally changed several times, first to Yoshio Takeuchi , and later to Yoshiya Ōta , separate from his performing name.
WKatsuhito Iwai is a Japanese economist and critic. He has studied the theory of money, macro dynamics, evolutionary economics, philosophy of corporations, fiduciary law, and the history of sociology. His work includes the book, Disequilibrium Dynamics, and many articles published in academic journals. He has also written books and articles in newspapers and magazines for the general public on a wide variety of subjects ranging from global capitalism, post-modernity, civil society, money and language to literature and movies. His keen observations and analysis of the works of Shakespeare, Marx, J. S. G. Boggs, and Ihara Saikaku have established him as one of the foremost essayists in Japan.
WTakanori Jinnai is a Japanese actor, film director, and singer. He was born August 12, 1958 in Okawa, Fukuoka. He made his directorial debut with Rockers, a 2003 film based on his years as vocalist for the punk rock band The Rockers (ザ・ロッカーズ). He was nominated best actor for a Japanese Academy Award three times, once in 1988 and twice in 1989. He won the award for Best Actor at the 12th Hochi Film Awards for Chōchin.
WMakoto Kaneko is the President, CEO and Representative Director of Zuken Inc., a public listed multinational corporation in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He also owns the exclusive golf club, The King Kamehameha Golf Club in Hawaii.
WHachiro Kasuga , born Minoru Watabe, was a Japanese enka singer. He has been dubbed "the first enka singer".
WHiroshi Kawaguchi was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in 37 films between 1956 and 1983. He was born in Tokyo, Japan. Kawaguchi's father, writer Matsutarō Kawaguchi, was an executive at Daiei Film, where Kawaguchi acted. In 1960 he married Daiei actress Hitomi Nozoe.
WHiroshi Kikuchi , known by his pen name Kan Kikuchi, was a Japanese author born in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa and Naoki Prize for popular literature. He came to prominence for the plays "Madame Pearl" and "Father Returns", but his ample support for the Imperial Japanese war effort led to his marginalization in the postwar period. He was also the head of Daiei Motion Picture Company. He is known to have been an avid player of Mahjong.
WSaburō Kitajima is a well-known Japanese enka singer, lyricist and composer.
WYōhei Kōno is a Japanese politician and a former President of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from November 2003 until August 2009, when the LDP lost its majority in the 2009 election. Kōno served as speaker for the longest length since the set up of House of Representatives in 1890.
WYōichi Masuzoe is a Japanese politician who was elected to the position of governor of Tokyo in 2014 and resigned in June 2016 due to the misuse of public funds. He was previously a member of the Japanese House of Councillors and the Japanese Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare. Before entering politics, he became well known in Japan as a television commentator on political issues.
WMichiya Mihashi, born Michiya Kitazawa in Kamiiso, Hokkaidō, was a famous enka singer in postwar Japan. Along with Hachiro Kasuga and Hideo Murata, he was regarded as one of the most notable singers to have established the genre enka.
WHibari Misora was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posthumously for giving the public hope and encouragement after World War II.
WWakio Mitsui was a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. A native of Sapporo, Hokkaido and graduate of Showa Pharmaceutical University, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000 after an unsuccessful run in 1996.
WHisaya Morishige was a Japanese actor and comedian. Born in Hirakata, Osaka, he graduated from Kitano Middle School, and attended Waseda University. He began his career as a stage actor, then became an announcer for NHK, working in Manchukuo. He became famous in films first for comedy roles, appearing in series such as the "Company President" (Shacho) and "Station Front" (Ekimae) series, produced by Toho. He appeared in nearly 250 films, both contemporary and jidaigeki. He was also famous on stage playing Tevye in the Japanese version of Fiddler on the Roof. He also appeared in television series and specials, and was the first guest on the television talk show Tetsuko's Room in 1975. He was long-time head of the Japan Actors Union. Among many honors, Morishige received the Order of Culture from the Emperor of Japan in 1991.
WHideo Murata was a Japanese rōkyoku and enka singer. He took part in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen 27 times.
WNachi Nozawa was a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and theatre director from Tokyo. He was affiliated with Office PAC at the time of his death. His real name was Yasutomo Nozawa . Nozawa was the official dub-over artist of Al Pacino and Alain Delon. Also he was known for voicing Giuliano Gemma, Robert Redford, Bruce Willis, Dustin Hoffman, Christopher Walken, David McCallum, C-3PO and Don Johnson. He was also the first dub-over voice of Willem Dafoe and James Woods in their early days. In the animation field, He was known as his roles in Cobra, Dororo, Gokū no Daibōken, Sakura Wars series and the Hellsing.
WToshio Ogawa is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party and a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet. Ogawa is a former Minister of Justice. A native of Nerima, Tokyo, and a graduate of Rikkyo University, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1998 after working as a prosecutor.
WKyosen Ōhashi was a Japanese television host and writer. He also served briefly as a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan. His real name was Ōhashi Katsumi.
WBaron Kishichiro Okura was a Japanese entrepreneur and hotelier.
WYukio Ozaki was a Japanese politician of liberal signature, born in modern-day Sagamihara, Kanagawa. Ozaki served in the House of Representatives of the Japanese Diet for 63 years (1890–1953). He is still revered in Japan as the "God of constitutional politics" and the "father of the Japanese Constitution".
WMitsuhiro Momota , better known as Rikidōzan (力道山), was a Korean-Japanese wrestler who competed in professional wrestling and sumo wrestling. He was known as The Father of Puroresu, and one of the most influential men in professional wrestling history. Initially, he had moved from his native country Korea to Japan to become a sumo wrestler. He was credited with bringing the sport of professional wrestling to Japan at a time when the Japanese needed a local hero to emulate and was lauded as a national hero. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, becoming the first Korean inductee and the third puroresu star to be inducted after Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami. He was killed in a street fight with a member of the Yakuza in 1963.
WMarshal-Admiral Marquis Saigō Jūdō was a Japanese politician and admiral in the Meiji period.
WHajime Satomi is a Japanese business magnate. Satomi is known as the founder of Sammy Corporation, which merged with the Japan-based video game and arcade game producer Sega to form the holding company Sega Sammy Holdings.
WFusao Sekiguchi (関口房朗) is a businessman and Thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast. He is the Chairman of the Board and majority shareholder of Venture Safe Net, Inc of Tokyo.
WKen Shimura was a Japanese comedian. He co-starred with Masashi Tashiro, Nobuyoshi Kuwano in the Japanese variety show Shimura Ken no Bakatono-sama.
WTsuyoshi Shinjo is a former Japanese professional baseball outfielder and current manager for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Shinjo is the second Japanese-born position player to play a Major League Baseball game and was the first Japanese-born player to appear in the World Series.
WKatsuya Takasu is a plastic surgeon based in Tokyo. He has attracted controversies regarding his stances of Holocaust and Nanking Massacre denial.
WKakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974.
WShūji Terayama was a Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground (Angura) theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and "expanded" cinema.
WSeiji Togo was a Japanese painter and artist known for his depiction of the female form. Born in Kagoshima Prefecture Japan, he graduated from middle school at Aoyama Gakuin University and displayed his first one-man show at Hibiya Art Museum at the age of 18. He later participated in the Futurist movement while studying in France. In 1928, he returned to Japan and was awarded the 1st Showa Western Art Promotion Award.
WToshiro Yanagiba is a Japanese actor.
WTadashi Yanai is a Japanese billionaire businessman, the founder and president of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo. As of October 2021, he was the richest person in Japan, with an estimated net worth of US$33.4 billion & 40th wealthiest person in the World according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
WEiji Yoshikawa was a Japanese historical novelist. Among his best-known novels are revisions of older classics. He was mainly influenced by classics such as The Tale of the Heike, Tale of Genji, Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, many of which he retold in his own style. As an example, Yoshikawa took up Taiko's original manuscript in 15 volumes to retell it in a more accessible tone and reduce it to only two volumes. His other books also serve similar purposes and, although most of his novels are not original works, he created a huge amount of work and a renewed interest in the past. He was awarded the Cultural Order of Merit in 1960, the Order of the Sacred Treasure and the Mainichi Art Award just before his death from cancer in 1962. He is cited as one of the best historical novelists in Japan.