Major League Baseball Players Born in Japan

Since the 19th Century, Major League Baseball has enjoyed a rich, diverse, world-wide set of talent not seen in any other major league sport. Every state in the United States of America, and more than forty-five countries, have had at least one player make it to the show. The table below is a comprehensive historical analysis of every major league baseball player born in Japan. Selecting a player's name will bring up his statistics page and selecting a column title (Birthplace, Debut Year, Final Year) will allow you to re-sort the data.
"For starting pitchers we have two Dominicans, one Italian, one Mexican and one Japanese. In the bullpen we have a Venezuelan, a Mexican, a guy from the United States and a guy from St. Louis." - Los Angeles Dodger / Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda (AP Wire, 08/18/1999)
Major League Baseball Players Born in Japan

A Historical Analysis / Return To Players by Birthplace
Satoru Komiyama Chiba, Japan 1965-09-15 2002 2002
Ryota Igarashi Chiba, Japan 1979-05-28 2010 Active
Kazuhisa Ishii Chiba, Japan 1973-09-09 2002 2005
Akinori Otsuka Chiba, Japan 1972-01-13 2004 2007
Akinori Iwamura Ehime, Japan 1979-02-09 2007 Active
Shingo Takatsu Hiroshima, Japan 1968-11-25 2004 2005
So Taguchi Hyogo Prefecture, Japan 1969-07-02 2002 2009
Hideki Irabu Hyogo, Japan 1969-05-15 1997 2002
Norichika Aoki Hyuga City, Japan 1982-01-05 2012 Active
Hideki Matsui Ishikawa, Japan 1974-06-12 2003 Active
Munenori Kawasaki Kagoshima, Japan 1981-06-03 2012 Active
Ken Takahashi Kanagawa, Japan 1969-04-16 2009 Active
Ichiro Suzuki Kasugai, Japan 1973-10-22 2001 Active
Yasuhiko Yabuta Kishiwada, Osaka, Japan 1973-06-19 2008 Active
Shigetoshi Hasegawa Kobe, Japan 1968-08-01 1997 2005
Mac Suzuki Kobe, Japan 1975-05-31 1996 2002
Kyuji Fujikawa Kochi, Japan 1980-07-21 2013 Active
Takahito Nomura Kouchi, Japan 1969-01-10 2002 2002
Tomo Ohka Kyoto, Japan 1976-03-18 1999 2009
Hideki Okajima Kyoto, Japan 1975-12-25 2007 Active
Keiichi Yabu Mie, Japan 1968-09-28 2005 2008
Takashi Saito Miyagi, Japan 1970-02-14 2006 Active
Kazuo Fukumori Miyakonojo, Japan 1976-08-04 2008 Active
Micheal Nakamura Nara, Japan 1976-09-06 2003 2007
Kei Igawa Oarai, Japan 1979-07-13 2007 Active
Dave Roberts Okinawa, Japan 1972-05-31 1999 2008
Bobby Fenwick Okinawa, Japan 1946-12-10 1972 1973
Craig House Okinawa, Japan 1977-07-08 2000 2000
Stephen Randolph Okinawa, Japan 1974-05-01 2003 2007
Norihiro Nakamura Osaka, Japan 1973-07-24 2005 2005
Tsuyoshi Shinjo Osaka, Japan 1972-01-28 2001 2003
Hiroki Kuroda Osaka, Japan 1975-02-10 2008 Active
Masato Yoshii Osaka, Japan 1965-04-20 1998 2002
Hideo Nomo Osaka, Japan 1968-08-31 1995 2008
Kazuo Matsui Osaka, Japan 1975-10-23 2004 Active
Masumi Kuwata Osaka, Japan 1968-04-01 2007 2007
Yoshinori Tateyama Osaka, Japan 1975-12-26 2011 Active
Yu Darvish Osaka, Japan 1986-08-16 2012 Active
Koji Uehara Osaka, Japan 1975-04-03 2009 Active
Tsuyoshi Nishioka Osaka, Japan 1984-07-27 2011 Active
Kosuke Fukudome Osaki, Japan 1977-04-26 2008 Active
Masanori Murakami Otsuki, Japan 1944-05-06 1964 1965
Kenji Johjima Sasebo, Japan 1976-06-08 2006 2009
Kazuhiro Sasaki Sendai City, Japan 1968-02-22 2000 2003
Kenshin Kawakami Tokushima, Japan 1975-06-22 2009 Active
Jim Bowie Tokyo, Japan 1965-02-17 1994 1994
Kazuhito Tadano Tokyo, Japan 1980-04-25 2004 2005
Hisanori Takahashi Tokyo, Japan 1975-04-02 2010 Active
Tadahito Iguchi Tokyo, Japan 1974-12-04 2005 2008
Masao Kida Tokyo, Japan 1968-09-12 1999 2005
Jeff McCurry Tokyo, Japan 1970-01-21 1995 1999
Daisuke Matsuzaka Tokyo, Japan 1980-09-13 2007 Active
Takashi Kashiwada Tokyo, Japan 1971-05-14 1997 1997
Hisashi Iwakuma Tokyo, Japan 1981-04-12 2012 Active
Steve Chitren Tokyo, Japan 1967-06-08 1990 1991
Masahide Kobayashi Yamanashi, Japan 1974-05-24 2008 Active
Junichi Tazawa Yokohama, Japan 1986-06-06 2009 Active
Keith McDonald Yokosuka, Japan 1973-02-08 2000 2001

Major League Baseball Players Born in Japan


Did you know that Jose Canseco was the first foreign-born (Cuba) player to reach the four-hundred home runs plateau? Did you know that Sammy Sosa was the first foreign-born (Dominican Republic) player to reach the five-hundred home runs plateau?

Baseball Almanac is aware that researching baseball players by their place of birth is common data found easily on the Internet today. We, as you are well aware, enjoy taking that extra step here and have taken that common data and added this amazing chart which will enable you to see a historical breakdown of players from any given year in history by their place of birth:
 
1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885
1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895
1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915
1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935
1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

If you would like to see a comprehensive list broken down by country of the first player born in a country or territory other than the United States of America, we have one in our Famous First section called Foreign Born Baseball Players.
     

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