Ren Sawai (澤井 廉, Sawai Ren; born May 31, 2000 in Chita, Aichi, Japan) is a professional Japanese baseball player. He…Ren Sawai (澤井 廉, Sawai Ren; born May 31, 2000 in Chita, Aichi, Japan) is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays outfielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Negi Haruba (春場 ねぎ, Haruba Negi; born July 27, 1991) is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the creator of his…Negi Haruba (春場 ねぎ, Haruba Negi; born July 27, 1991) is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the creator of his smash-hit manga The Quintessential Quintuplets, which was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2017 to February 2020. In May 2019, he won the award for Best Shōnen Manga at the 43rd annual Kodansha Manga Awards, alongside Ōima Yoshitoki's To Your Eternity. It was the fifth best-selling manga in Japan in 2019. According to Haruba, his pen name comes from the protagonist of Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Negi Springfield. On the award ceremony of the 43rd annual Kodansha Manga Awards, Haruba said it was "special to him" to be selected by Ken Akamatsu, who was one of the judges of the award and the creator of Negima! Magister Negi Magi.
Kōji Fukutani (福谷 浩司, Fukutani Kōji; born January 9, 1991) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Hokkaido…Kōji Fukutani (福谷 浩司, Fukutani Kōji; born January 9, 1991) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He joined the Fighters as a free agent after spending 11 years with the Chunichi Dragons.
Yuki Koyama (小山 雄輝, Koyama Yūki; born December 5, 1988 in Chita, Aichi, Japan) is a professional Japanese baseball…Yuki Koyama (小山 雄輝, Koyama Yūki; born December 5, 1988 in Chita, Aichi, Japan) is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays pitcher for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Tetsuya Iwashita (大和 哲也, Iwashita Tetsuya; born December 10, 1987), better known by his ring name Tetsuya Yamato, is a…Tetsuya Iwashita (大和 哲也, Iwashita Tetsuya; born December 10, 1987), better known by his ring name Tetsuya Yamato, is a Japanese Muay thai fighter and kickboxer. He is the former K-1 Super Lightweight champion, the former WBC Muaythai and Lion Fight super lightweight champion, the former NJKF lightweight champion, as well as the K-1 WORLD MAX 2010 Lightweight Japan Tournament winner. As of January 2023, he is ranked as the fourth best featherweight (-66 kg) kickboxer in the world by Combat Press and the eighth best super featherweight (-67.5 kg) by Beyond Kick. Combat Press has ranked him as a top ten featherweight since April 2022 and previously ranked him in the featherweight top ten between July and October 2015.
Ayumi Kinoshita (木下 あゆ美, Kinoshita Ayumi; born December 13, 1982) is a Japanese actress. She was born in Chita, Aichi…Ayumi Kinoshita (木下 あゆ美, Kinoshita Ayumi; born December 13, 1982) is a Japanese actress. She was born in Chita, Aichi, Japan, and was affiliated with Wave Management Nagoya, Parts, Stardust Promotion and Enno before working as a freelance actress. She is well known for playing Marika Reimon (Jasmine)/Deka Yellow in the 2004 television series Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger. On February 27, 2014, she announced her pregnancy.
Susanoumi Yoshitaka (須佐の湖 善誉), born August 30, 1972, and known by his shikona Susanoumi (須佐の湖) is a Japanese retired…Susanoumi Yoshitaka (須佐の湖 善誉), born August 30, 1972, and known by his shikona Susanoumi (須佐の湖) is a Japanese retired sumo wrestler from the city of Chita in Aichi Prefecture. His sumo stable was Kitanoumi. His real name is Zenji Kanesaku. His height is 184 cm (6 ft) and his peak weight was 240 kg. His highest rank was jūryō 2, achieved in the January 1998 wrestling tournament (basho in Japanese). One of his best results was in the November 1999 tournament in Kyushu when he defeated Hayateumi and Kotomitsuki. His hobby is sleeping. After retirement he ran a restaurant in Fukuoka near his in-laws' home, but thereafter closed it and worked as a security guard in Kyushu. At a peak weight of 240 kg (530 lb) reached in 1998, Susanoumi ranks seventh on the list of heaviest sumo wrestlers. He was the heaviest Japanese-born sumo wrestler until surpassed by Yamamotoyama, who peaked at 266 kg (586 lb) in 2010.
Takeshi Yamasaki (山﨑 武司, Yamasaki Takeshi; born November 7, 1968, in Chita, Aichi, Japan) is a retired Japanese…Takeshi Yamasaki (山﨑 武司, Yamasaki Takeshi; born November 7, 1968, in Chita, Aichi, Japan) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. During his 24 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, he played for the Chunichi Dragons, the Orix BlueWave, and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Masaharu Take (武 正晴, Take Masaharu; born 1967 in Chita, Aichi) is a Japanese film director. Take began working in the…Masaharu Take (武 正晴, Take Masaharu; born 1967 in Chita, Aichi) is a Japanese film director. Take began working in the film industry without any formal training. Among his first contributions to film productions as an assistant director were Gonin (1995) and Gonin 2 (1996, both directed by Takashi Ishii). After some more years as an assistant director, his first own film as director followed in 2006, Boy Meets Pusan (ボーイ・ミーツ・プサン, Bōi mītsu Pusan). After that he worked for several years as both director and assistant director. An important role model for Take at that time was the director Kazuyuki Izutsu for whom Take worked as assistant director in many films, including Get Up! / Geroppa! in 2003, Break Through! / Pacchigi! in 2005, and Fly with the Gold / Ōgon o daite tobe in 2012. Take achieved some popularity when his film 100 Yen Love (百円の恋, Hyakuen no koi, 2014) was submitted for the 88th Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language Film (though ultimately not nominated). For Take, this honour came as a surprise, as he himself said. 100 Yen Love is about a woman working as a shop assistant in a 100-yen shop who takes up boxing. In 2017, Take revisited the theme of combat sport in The Ringside Story (リングサイド・ストーリー, Ringusaido sutōrī), a film about wrestling. The Gun (銃, Jū) from 2018 is Take's first and to date only film for which he also wrote the script. It is based on Fuminori Nakamuras debut novel of the same title from 2002. The Gun is about a university student who accidentally comes into possession of a handgun. In a review, a critic compared the film to Japanese New Wave cinema and Nagisa Ōshima, and praised the performance of main actor Nijirō Murakami. Another critic praised the film for illustrating the phantasmatic nature of the phallus and the role it plays within male subjectivity. In 2019, Take directed a television series for the first time (The Naked Director). His 2018 film We Make Antiques (嘘八百, Uso happyaku) was so successful that a sequel followed in 2020, also directed by Take. As his influences and personal favourites, Take names the directors Yūzō Kawashima, Martin Scorsese and the aforementioned Kazuyuki Izutsu, as well as actress Ayako Wakao.
Jun Maki (眞木 準, Maki Jun; October 20, 1948, in Aichi Prefecture – June 22, 2009) was a Japanese copywriter. A 1971…Jun Maki (眞木 準, Maki Jun; October 20, 1948, in Aichi Prefecture – June 22, 2009) was a Japanese copywriter. A 1971 graduate of Keio University, he formerly worked for Hakuhodo, Japan's second largest advertising agency. He died on June 22, 2009, of a myocardial infarction. He was 60 years old.
Takuya Asao (浅尾 拓也, Asao Takuya; born October 22, 1984 in Chita, Aichi) is a retired Nippon Professional Baseball…Takuya Asao (浅尾 拓也, Asao Takuya; born October 22, 1984 in Chita, Aichi) is a retired Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher. He spent his entire career at the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Central League where he captured the Central League MVP award in 2011.