Famous people who grew up or lived in Japan
13 notable people grew up or lived in Japan. Each listing explores the home and neighbourhood, and how the place shaped the person they became.
Akira Kurosawa1910–1936
📍 7-chome Omori-kita, Ōta City, Tokyo 143-0016, Japan
I was born on the 23rd of March 1910 in the Omori district of Tokyo, the son of a sake merchant, and grew up in a family proud of its samurai heritage. My father insisted all his children…
Emperor Akihito1993–2020
📍 Tokyo Imperial Palace, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Akihito was born in 1933, the eldest son of Emperor Hirohito. During the Second World War he was evacuated from Tokyo, and after Japan's defeat he was tutored by an American Quaker…
Haruki Murakami1950–1968
📍 Ashiya, Hyōgo, Japan
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and grew up in Shukugawa in Nishinomiya and in neighbouring Ashiya, quiet, comfortable suburbs between the mountains and the sea outside Kobe. He…
Hayao Miyazakifrom 1970
📍 Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo in 1941, during the war, and spent part of his childhood evacuated to Utsunomiya; his family's firm made rudders and parts for fighter planes, which began…
Hideki Matsuyama1992–2007
📍 Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan
Hideki Matsuyama was born in February 1992 in Matsuyama, the castle city on the island of Shikoku that shares his family name, famous for its hilltop castle and the ancient Dōgo hot…
Hidetoshi Nakata1977–1995
📍 Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan
Hidetoshi Nakata was born in January 1977 in Kofu, the capital of Yamanashi prefecture, a city in a mountain basin west of Tokyo, ringed by peaks and with views of Mount Fuji, known for its…
Ichiro Suzuki1973–1991
📍 Toyoyama, Aichi, Japan
Ichiro Suzuki was born in Kasugai, near Nagoya, in October 1973 and grew up in Toyoyama, a small town in Aichi Prefecture on the edge of Nagoya, close to the airport. His father, Nobuyuki…
Katsushika Hokusai1760–1849
📍 Honjo District, Edo (now Sumida, Tokyo), Japan
I was born Katsushika Hokusai around 1760 in the Honjo district of Edo. I changed my name at least thirty times during my career, which lasted over seventy years. I was apprenticed to a…
Naomi Osaka1997–2000
📍 Osaka, Japan
Naomi Osaka was born in Osaka, Japan's great commercial city, in October 1997. Her mother, Tamaki, is from Nemuro in Hokkaido, and her father, Leonard François, is from Jacmel in Haiti…
Setsuko Thurlow1932–2026
📍 1-10 Ōtemachi, Naka Ward, Hiroshima 730-0051, Japan
Setsuko Thurlow was born Setsuko Nakamura in Hiroshima in January 1932. On 6 August 1945, at thirteen, she was one of a group of schoolgirls mobilised to work decoding messages at the army…
Shohei Ohtani1994–2012
📍 Ōshū, Iwate, Japan
Shohei Ohtani grew up in Mizusawa, now part of the city of Ōshū, a quiet farming town of rice fields and cold, snowy winters in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. He was the youngest of…
Tokugawa Ieyasu1600–1603
📍 68 Honmachi, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0012, Japan
Before I unified Japan at Sekigahara, Himeji was my staging post. I gave it to my son-in-law Ikeda Terumasa to rebuild in the new style — white plaster walls and curving rooflines rising…
Yayoi Kusama1929–1957
📍 Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
I was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, a castle town ringed by the mountains of Nagano, the youngest child of a family that ran a plant nursery and seed business. I grew up among fields of…