Kōki Yamashita (山下 幸輝, Yamashita Kōki; born January 31, 1993) is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays…Kōki Yamashita (山下 幸輝, Yamashita Kōki; born January 31, 1993) is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays infielder for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
Keisuke Kaneko (金子 圭輔, Kaneko Keisuke; born July 23, 1985) is a Japanese former professional baseball infielder, and…Keisuke Kaneko (金子 圭輔, Kaneko Keisuke; born July 23, 1985) is a Japanese former professional baseball infielder, and current third squad inside defense and base running coach for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He played in NPH for the Hawks and Orix Buffaloes.
Hiroshi Mihara (三原 弘嗣, Mihara Hiroshi; born October 20, 1983), better known by his ring name Hiroshi Yamato (大和ヒロシ…Hiroshi Mihara (三原 弘嗣, Mihara Hiroshi; born October 20, 1983), better known by his ring name Hiroshi Yamato (大和ヒロシ, Yamato Hiroshi), is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. Trained by the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, he started his career in February 2007 working in Mexico for the International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) promotion, where he won the 2007 Rey del Ring tournament. Yamato returned to Japan and his home promotion in February 2008 and during the next five years went on to become a one-time World Junior Heavyweight and All Asia Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2012 Junior Hyper League. In June 2013, Yamato left All Japan in a mass exodus to join the new Wrestle-1 promotion. In January 2016, Yamato won the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship. Yamato also worked as a trainer and sales manager for Wrestle-1 until his departure from the promotion in 2018.
Emi Motokawa (元川 恵美, Motokawa Emi; born October 4, 1976), better known by the ring name Emi Sakura (さくら えみ, Sakura…Emi Motokawa (元川 恵美, Motokawa Emi; born October 4, 1976), better known by the ring name Emi Sakura (さくら えみ, Sakura Emi), is a Japanese professional wrestler performing for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), ChocoPro and on the independent circuit. After starting her career in International Wrestling Association of Japan in August 1995, Sakura worked for several promotions across Japan, winning numerous titles, before founding her own promotion, Ice Ribbon, in early 2006. Sakura not only wrestled for the promotion, but was also solely responsible for training wrestlers for the promotion, where she went on to become a two-time ICE×60 Champion and a five-time International Ribbon Tag Team Champion. During 2009, Sakura held not only both the ICE×60 and International Ribbon Tag Team Championships, but also the Daily Sports Women's and JWP Tag Team Championships and the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships, which led to the Tokyo Sports magazine naming her the 2009 joshi wrestler of the year. After six years with Ice Ribbon, Sakura left the promotion for "personal reasons" in January 2012. The following month, Sakura formed the Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling promotion in Bangkok, Thailand. During 2012, Sakura also became a regular for JWP Joshi Puroresu, winning the JWP Openweight Championship in October.
Tsuyoshi Yoda (与田 剛, Yoda Tsuyoshi; born December 4, 1965 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese professional…Tsuyoshi Yoda (与田 剛, Yoda Tsuyoshi; born December 4, 1965 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese professional baseball player and manager. He managed of the Chunichi Dragons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) between 2019 and 2021. Although born in Fukuoka prefecture, Yoda grew up in Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture. His wife is Tokyo Broadcasting System Television announcer, Hiroko Kiba.
Ryo Hayami (速水 亮, Hayami Ryō) (born (1949-11-14) November 14, 1949 in Kimitsu, Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese actor known…Ryo Hayami (速水 亮, Hayami Ryō) (born (1949-11-14) November 14, 1949 in Kimitsu, Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese actor known for playing the hero Keisuke Jin in the tokusatsu superhero series Kamen Rider X. On December 18, 2019, he suffered a heart attack from a collapse. He has been recovering.
Jirō Yabuki (矢吹二朗, Yabuki Jirō; born Mitsuho Maeda, 6 January 1949) also known as Jirō Chiba is a retired Japanese…Jirō Yabuki (矢吹二朗, Yabuki Jirō; born Mitsuho Maeda, 6 January 1949) also known as Jirō Chiba is a retired Japanese actor. His older brother was Sonny Chiba. He is known for playing the role of Kazuya Taki in the tokusatsu superhero series Kamen Rider. He started his acting career at the Bungakuza theatre company in 1967. In 1970, he joined Sonny Chiba's production company and often co-starred with Sonny in many films. His first starring role in the film was in Gekitotsu! Aikidō. In 1976, he changed his stage name from Jirō Chiba to Jirō Yabuki. He announced his retirement as an actor in 1982.
Takayuki Okazaki (岡崎 高之, Okazaki Takayuki; born 28 March 1940) is a Japanese former long jumper who competed in the…Takayuki Okazaki (岡崎 高之, Okazaki Takayuki; born 28 March 1940) is a Japanese former long jumper who competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics and in the 1964 Summer Olympics. Okazaki finished third behind Jorma Valkama in the long jump event at the British 1962 AAA Championships.
Shinichi Chiba (Japanese: 千葉 真一, Hepburn: Chiba Shin'ichi; born Sadaho Maeda; 22 January 1939 – 19 August 2021) IPA…Shinichi Chiba (Japanese: 千葉 真一, Hepburn: Chiba Shin'ichi; born Sadaho Maeda; 22 January 1939 – 19 August 2021) IPA: [tɕiꜜba ɕiɰ̃itɕi], known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later to an international audience. Born in Fukuoka, Chiba played a variety of sports in high school, including baseball and volleyball. He also practiced gymnastics and participated at the National Sports Festival of Japan in his third year. When he was a university student, he learned martial arts, earning a black belt in Kyokushin Karate in 1965 and later receiving a fourth degree in 1984. Chiba's career began in the 1960s, when he starred in two tokusatsu superhero shows. In his first role, he replaced Susumu Wajima as the main character Kōtarō Ran/Seven Color Mask in Seven Color Mask (Nana-iro Kamen) in the second half of the series. However, his breakthrough role was in the 1974 film The Street Fighter. Before retiring, Chiba had also appeared in a number of English language American films, including Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). Chiba died of COVID-19 complications at the hospital in Tokyo on 19 August 2021, at the age of 82.
Erika Karata (唐田 えりか, Karata Erika; born September 19, 1997) is a Japanese actress and former model associated with…Erika Karata (唐田 えりか, Karata Erika; born September 19, 1997) is a Japanese actress and former model associated with FLaMme and BH Entertainment. In 2014, she debuted as a model, and in 2017, she began a concurrent modeling and acting career in South Korea. Notable film and television projects that Karata has starred in include Lock-On Love, Asako I & II, and Arthdal Chronicles.
Wataru Takagi (高木 渉, Takagi Wataru; born July 25, 1966) is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Chiba Prefecture…Wataru Takagi (高木 渉, Takagi Wataru; born July 25, 1966) is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Chiba Prefecture affiliated with Arts Vision. He is best known for his roles as One Piece (as Bellamy), Bleach (as Ganju Shiba), Detective Conan (as Genta Kojima and Wataru Takagi), After War Gundam X (as Garrod Ran), Slayers Try (as Valgaav), the Beast Wars: Transformers series (as Cheetor), Great Teacher Onizuka (as Eikichi Onizuka), Hajime no Ippo (as Masaru Aoki), Naruto (as Obito Uchiha), the fifth series of GeGeGe no Kitarō (as Nezumi Otoko), Yes! PreCure 5 (as Bunbee), and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable (as Okuyasu Nijimura). Takagi is also the official Japanese voice of Daffy Duck.