# Every Japanese Nobel laureate (1949–2025)

From Hideki Yukawa in 1949 to Shimon Sakaguchi (Medicine) and Susumu Kitagawa (Chemistry) in 2025: the 27 laureates who held Japanese nationality when they won, plus Nihon Hidankyo, Peace Prize 2024, in order of award.

- 6 votes · 28 items
- Jan 13, 2026 · Kenichi Hasegawa
- https://even.best/en/l/5262/every-japanese-nobel-laureate-1949-2025

## Top 28

1. **Yasunari Kawabata** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, for his narrative mastery, for works such as The Izu Dancer and Snow Country.
2. **Eisaku Satō** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1974 Nobel Prize in Peace, for the Three Non-Nuclear Principles.
3. **Kenzaburō Ōe** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature, for works such as A Personal Matter and The Silent Cry.
4. **Makoto Kobayashi** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics, for the origin of the broken CP symmetry (Kobayashi–Maskawa theory).
5. **Osamu Shimomura** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP).
6. **Shimon Sakaguchi** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.
7. **Hideki Yukawa** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics, for prediction of the existence of mesons.
8. **Sin-Itiro Tomonaga** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics, for fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics.
9. **Leo Esaki** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics, for experimental discovery of tunnelling in semiconductors.
10. **Kenichi Fukui** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for theories on the course of chemical reactions.
11. **Susumu Tonegawa** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1987 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for discovering the genetic principle behind antibody diversity.
12. **Hideki Shirakawa** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for discovery and development of conductive polymers.
13. **Ryōji Noyori** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for chirally catalysed asymmetric reactions.
14. **Masatoshi Koshiba** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics, for pioneering the detection of cosmic neutrinos.
15. **Koichi Tanaka** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for methods to identify and analyse biological macromolecules.
16. **Toshihide Maskawa** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics, for the origin of the broken CP symmetry (Kobayashi–Maskawa theory).
17. **Ei-ichi Negishi** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for palladium-catalysed cross couplings.
18. **Akira Suzuki** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for palladium-catalysed cross couplings.
19. **Shinya Yamanaka** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for creating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
20. **Isamu Akasaki** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, for invention of the blue light-emitting diode.
21. **Hiroshi Amano** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, for invention of the blue light-emitting diode.
22. **Takaaki Kajita** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics, for discovery of neutrino oscillations.
23. **Satoshi Ōmura** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for a new therapy against parasitic roundworm infections.
24. **Yoshinori Ohsumi** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for discovering the mechanisms of autophagy.
25. **Tasuku Honjo** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for cancer therapy by inhibiting negative immune regulation.
26. **Akira Yoshino** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for development of lithium-ion batteries.
27. **Nihon Hidankyo** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2024 Nobel Prize in Peace, for the atomic-bomb survivors' efforts for a world free of nuclear weapons.
28. **Susumu Kitagawa** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for development of metal–organic frameworks.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.