Shingo Tatsumi (巽 真悟, born January 10, 1987, in Higashimuro District, Wakayama) is a Japanese former professional…Shingo Tatsumi (巽 真悟, born January 10, 1987, in Higashimuro District, Wakayama) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks from 2009 to 2015.
Yoshihisa Hirano (平野 義久, Hirano Yoshihisa; born December 7, 1971) is a Japanese composer and arranger. He is best known…Yoshihisa Hirano (平野 義久, Hirano Yoshihisa; born December 7, 1971) is a Japanese composer and arranger. He is best known for composing the scores for anime series, such as Death Note, Hunter × Hunter (2011), Hajime no Ippo and Edens Zero. He has also made the orchestration for video games, mostly in the Final Fantasy franchise. His musical style combines impressionism and atonal music. He employs techniques such as polyrhythm, tone clusters, polytonality, brass glissandi and polymodal chromaticism to create unique musical textures.
Keiichi Yabu (藪 恵壹, Yabu Keiichi; real name: 藪 恵一) (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese baseball pitching coach for…Keiichi Yabu (藪 恵壹, Yabu Keiichi; real name: 藪 恵一) (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese baseball pitching coach for the Hanshin Tigers and a former baseball pitcher. He played eleven seasons in Japan, and parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics in 2005 and the San Francisco Giants in 2008.
Kushimaumi Keita (久島海 啓太; 6 August 1965 – 13 February 2012), born as Keita Kushima (久嶋 啓太), was a sumo wrestler from…Kushimaumi Keita (久島海 啓太; 6 August 1965 – 13 February 2012), born as Keita Kushima (久嶋 啓太), was a sumo wrestler from Shingū, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. A successful amateur, his highest rank in professional sumo was maegashira 1. After his retirement he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and established Tagonoura stable.
Kenji Nakagami (Japanese: 中上 健次, Nakagami Kenji; 2 August 1946 – 12 August 1992) was a Japanese writer, critic, and…Kenji Nakagami (Japanese: 中上 健次, Nakagami Kenji; 2 August 1946 – 12 August 1992) was a Japanese writer, critic, and poet. He was one of the most prominent and influential Japanese writers of the post-war era, known for his novels, short stories, and essays that powerfully depicted the lives of Japan's burakumin outcaste community. Born into a buraku in Shingū, Wakayama, Nakagami was the first writer from this background to win the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, which he received in 1976 for his novella The Cape (岬, Misaki). His writing is characterized by a rhythmic, visceral prose style that drew heavily on oral storytelling traditions, folklore, and the dialect of his native Kumano region. Nakagami's major works, including the "Akiyuki trilogy"—The Cape, Withered Tree Straits (枯木灘, Karekinada), and The Ends of the Earth, the Supreme Time (地の果て至上の時, Chi no hate, shijō no toki)—form a complex family saga set in the roji (路地, alleyways), a fictionalized version of his hometown's buraku. These narratives explore themes of bloodlines, incest, violence, sexuality, and the interplay between myth and history. After publicly revealing his burakumin origins in 1977, Nakagami became a vocal public intellectual, engaging in critical dialogues about discrimination, Japanese literature, and national identity. He sought to represent the voices of the mukoku (voiceless), the socially silenced people of Japan. He consciously positioned his work against the mainstream of modern Japanese literature, which he critiqued for its exclusion of marginalized voices and its adherence to what he called the "emperor's syntax". Adopting the concept of "parallax" to describe his dual perspective as both an insider to the buraku and an outsider to mainstream society, he sought to create a "strange new tongue" rooted in the peripheral experiences of his community. He died from kidney cancer at the age of 46.
Takeo Hatanaka (畑中 武夫, Hatanaka Takeo; 1 January 1914 – 10 November 1963) was a Japanese radio astronomer. He founded…Takeo Hatanaka (畑中 武夫, Hatanaka Takeo; 1 January 1914 – 10 November 1963) was a Japanese radio astronomer. He founded the Nobeyama Radio Observatory. The crater Hatanaka on the Moon is named after him.
Eitaro Ishigaki (石垣 栄太郎, Ishigaki Eitarō; December 1, 1893 - January 23, 1958) was a Japanese-born American painter. He…Eitaro Ishigaki (石垣 栄太郎, Ishigaki Eitarō; December 1, 1893 - January 23, 1958) was a Japanese-born American painter. He lived and worked in the United States between 1909 and 1952. Ishigaki, who came to the US as a migrant worker in the early 20th century, depicted the contradictions of American society from the perspective of a minority person. Ishigaki was also a founding member of progressive and politically active organizations, including the John Reed Clubs (JRC) in 1929 and the American Artists' Congress in 1936. Ishigaki was a committed leftist throughout his life and career, "whose canvases and murals depicted social injustices and urban life." His one of best known works, The Bonus March (1932), depicts a critical moment in WWI veterans' famous march into Washington, D.C., in 1932. Ishigaki's work is held by the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1997 and 2013, the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama held commemorative exhibitions of his works. His work is also located in the Ishigaki Eitaro Memorial Museum in Wakayama, Japan.
Haruo Sato (佐藤 春夫, Satō Haruo; 9 April 1892 – 6 May 1964) was a Japanese novelist and poet active during the Taishō and…Haruo Sato (佐藤 春夫, Satō Haruo; 9 April 1892 – 6 May 1964) was a Japanese novelist and poet active during the Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. His works are known for their explorations of melancholy. He won the 4th Yomiuri Prize.
