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Japanese Ancestry

ANCESTRY

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Emperor Akihito
Royalty
23-Dec-1933   Emperor of Japan
Devon Aoki
Model
10-Aug-1982   Sin City
Rocky Aoki
Business
9-Oct-1938 10-Jul-2008 Benihana founder
Gregg Araki
Film Director
17-Dec-1959   Mysterious Skin
Nobuyoshi Araki
Photographer
25-May-1940   Tokyo Lucky Hole
George Ariyoshi
Politician
12-Mar-1926   Governor of Hawaii, 1974-86
Fred Armisen
Actor
4-Dec-1966   Saturday Night Live
Shoko Asahara
Religion
2-Mar-1955   Leader, Aum Shinrikyo cult
Reiko Aylesworth
Actor
9-Dec-1972   Michelle Dessler on 24
Matsuo Basho
Poet
1644 12-Oct-1694 Haiku master
Dean Cain
Actor
31-Jul-1966   Superman
Asia Carrera
Pornstar
6-Aug-1973   Mensa member, pornstar
Tabatha Cash
Pornstar
27-Dec-1973   Gangbang Girl #9, Lesbomania #2
Ann Curry
Journalist
19-Nov-1956   Dateline NBC Co-Host
Alberto Fujimori
Head of State
28-Jul-1938   President of Peru, 1990-2000
Toshihiko Fukui
Government
7-Sep-1935   Governor of the Bank of Japan
Miho Hatori
Musician
1970   Vocalist, Cibo Matto
S. I. Hayakawa
Politician
19-Jul-1906 27-Feb-1992 Semanticist and US Senator
Emperor Hirohito
Royalty
29-Apr-1901 7-Jan-1989 Emperor of Japan 1926-89
Mazie Hirono
Politician
3-Nov-1947   Congresswoman, Hawaii 2nd
Hokusai
Artist
Oct-1760 10-May-1849 Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Mike Honda
Politician
27-Jun-1941   Congressman, California 15th
Lon Horiuchi
Government
9-Jun-1954   Sniper who killed Vicki Weaver
James Iha
Guitarist
26-Mar-1968   Guitarist for Smashing Pumpkins
Daniel Inouye
Politician
7-Sep-1924   US Senator from Hawaii
Kazuo Ishiguro
Novelist
8-Nov-1954   The Remains of the Day
Joi Ito
Business
19-Jun-1966   Creative Commons, Technorati
Kiyoshi Ito
Mathematician
7-Sep-1915 10-Nov-2008 Ito Calculus
Lance Ito
Judge
2-Aug-1950   Presided over the OJ Simpson trial
Toru Iwatani
Business
25-Jan-1955   Created Pacman
Takeshi Kaga
TV Personality
12-Oct-1950   Chairman Kaga from Iron Chef
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Actor
11-Oct-1973   Chungking Express
Paul Kariya
Hockey
16-Oct-1974   St. Louis Blues
Tadao Kashio
Business
1917 4-Mar-1993 President of Casio, 1960-84
Guy Kawasaki
Business
1954   Former chief evangelist of Apple Computer
Robert Kiyosaki
Author
8-Apr-1947   Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Yotaro Kobayashi
Business
25-Apr-1933   CEO of Fuji Xerox, Ltd.
Junichiro Koizumi
Head of State
8-Jan-1942   Prime Minister of Japan, 2001-06
Tommy Kono
Sports Figure
27-Jun-1930   Weightlifter
Masaru Konuma
Film Director
30-Dec-1937   Wife to Be Sacrificed
Masatoshi Koshiba
Scientist
19-Sep-1926   Detected cosmic neutrinos
Harumi Kurihara
Business
7-Mar-1947   Japan's Martha Stewart
Akira Kurosawa
Film Director
23-Mar-1910 6-Sep-1998 Yojimbo
Ken Kutaragi
Inventor
8-Aug-1950   Father of the PlayStation
Sean Lennon
Musician
9-Oct-1975   Son of Beatle John Lennon
Mako
Actor
10-Dec-1933 21-Jul-2006 Akiro "The Wizard" in the Conan series
Ferdinand Marcos
Head of State
11-Sep-1917 28-Sep-1989 Disgraced Philippine dictator
Yasuzo Masumura
Film Director
25-Aug-1924 23-Nov-1986 Blind Beast
Robert Matsui
Politician
17-Sep-1941 1-Jan-2005 Congressman from California, 1993-2005
Yukihiro Matsumoto
Computer Programmer
14-Apr-1965   Creator of Ruby programming language
Spark Matsunaga
Politician
8-Oct-1916 15-Apr-1990 US Senator from Hawaii, 1977-90
Toshirô Mifune
Actor
1-Apr-1920 24-Dec-1997 Yojimbo
Norm Mineta
Politician
12-Nov-1931   Congressman from California, 1975-95
Patsy Mink
Politician
6-Dec-1927 28-Sep-2002 Congresswoman from Hawaii
Shigeru Miyamoto
Business
16-Nov-1952   Nintendo Game Designer
Ikue Mori
Musician
1953   Electronic music and drum machine innovator
Masaharu Morimoto
Chef
26-May-1955   Iron Chef Japanese
Pat Morita
Actor
28-Jun-1932 24-Nov-2005 Miyagi on Karate Kid
Miyamoto Musashi
Military
12-Mar-1584 13-Jun-1645 A Book of Five Rings
Yoichiro Nambu
Physicist
18-Jan-1921   Spontaneous broken symmetry
Thomas T. Noguchi
Doctor
4-Jan-1927   Coroner to the Stars
Bev Oda
Politician
27-Jul-1944   Canadian MP, Durham
Sadaharu Oh
Baseball
20-May-1940   Japan's all-time Home Run King
Apolo Anton Ohno
Speed Skating
22-May-1982   Olympic skater, Dancing with the Stars
Masi Oka
Actor
27-Dec-1974   Hiro Nakamura on Heroes
Yoko Ono
Artist
18-Feb-1933   Impenetrable musician, wife of John Lennon
Charles J. Pedersen
Chemist
3-Oct-1904 26-Oct-1989 Synthesis of crown ethers
Susan Ralston
Government
15-Oct-1967   Former Abramoff, Rove aide
Patricia Saiki
Politician
28-May-1930   Congresswoman from Hawaii, 1987-91
Hironobu Sakaguchi
Computer Programmer
14-Nov-1962   Created Final Fantasy videogame series
Tura Satana
Actor
10-Jul-1935   The Astro Zombies
Eisaku Sato
Politician
27-Mar-1901 3-Jun-1975 Japanese Prime Minister 1964-72
James Shigeta
Actor
17-Jun-1933   Flower Drum Song
Jenny Shimizu
Model
16-Jun-1967   Lezbopunk bike-dyke
Osamu Shimomura
Chemist
c. 1929   Green Fluorescent Protein
Mike Shinoda
Musician
11-Feb-1977   Singer/instrumentalist for Linkin Park
Eric Shinseki
Military
28-Nov-1942   US Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Hideki Shirakawa
Chemist
20-Aug-1936   Metallic polymers
Kimora Lee Simmons
Fashion Designer
4-May-1975   Fabulosity
Jack Soo
Actor
28-Oct-1916 11-Jan-1979 Det. Yemana on Barney Miller
Chiune Sugihara
Diplomat
1-Jan-1900 31-Jul-1986 Helped Jews escape Lithuania
David Suzuki
Naturalist
24-Mar-1936   Television nature host
Suzi Suzuki
Pornstar
3-May-1972   Suzi Bung Holee-O
Kobe Tai
Pornstar
15-Jan-1972   Hawaiian Blast
George Takei
Actor
20-Apr-1937   Sulu on original Star Trek
Mika Tan
Pornstar
27-Nov-1977   Lady Fellatio #2: Desperately Seeking Semen
Koichi Tanaka
Chemist
3-Aug-1959   Refinements in mass spectrometry
Kenzo Tange
Architect
4-Sep-1913 22-Mar-2005 Designed Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima
Iva Toguri
Radio Personality
4-Jul-1916 26-Sep-2006 Never actually was Tokyo Rose
Hideki Tojo
Head of State
30-Dec-1884 23-Dec-1948 Prime Minister of Japan, 1941-44
Tamlyn Tomita
Actor
27-Jan-1966   The Burning Zone
Shintaro Tsuji
Business
7-Dec-1927   Sanrio founder
Miyoshi Umeki
Actor
3-Apr-1929 28-Aug-2007 Sayonara
Kazutoki Umezu
Jazz Musician
1949   Japanese jazz and improv reed player
Utamaro
Artist
1753 31-Oct-1806 Japanese printmaker
Bryan Uyesugi
Criminal
1959   Shot 7 Xerox coworkers to death in Honolulu
Gedde Watanabe
Actor
26-Jun-1955   Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles
Kristi Yamaguchi
Figure Skating
12-Jul-1971   Olympic figure skater
Torakusu Yamaha
Business
20-Apr-1851 8-Aug-1916 Founder of Yamaha Corporation
Iwasaki Yataro
Business
9-Jan-1835 7-Feb-1885 Founder of the Mitsubishi companies


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