Counted from the Nobel Prize organization’s data on October 6, 2026.
| Year | Field | Laureate | Born in | Prize “for …” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Physics | Hideki Yukawa | Tokyo | for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces |
| 1965 | Physics | Sin-Itiro Tomonaga | Kyoto | for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles |
| 1973 | Physics | Leo Esaki | Osaka | for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively |
| 1981 | Chemistry | Kenichi Fukui | Nara | for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions |
| 1987 | Physiology or Medicine | Susumu Tonegawa | Nagoya | for his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity |
| 2000 | Chemistry | Hideki Shirakawa | Tokyo | for the discovery and development of conductive polymers |
| 2001 | Chemistry | Ryoji Noyori | Kobe | for their work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions |
| 2002 | Chemistry | Koichi Tanaka | Toyama City | for their development of soft desorption ionisation methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules |
| 2002 | Physics | Masatoshi Koshiba | Toyohashi | for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos |
| 2008 | Chemistry | Osamu Shimomura | Kyoto | for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP |
| 2008 | Physics | Makoto Kobayashi | Nagoya | for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature |
| 2008 | Physics | Toshihide Maskawa | Nagoya | for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature |
| 2008 | Physics | Yoichiro Nambu | Tokyo | for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics |
| 2010 | Chemistry | Akira Suzuki | Mukawa | for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis |
| 2012 | Physiology or Medicine | Shinya Yamanaka | Osaka | for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent |
| 2014 | Physics | Hiroshi Amano | Hamamatsu | for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources |
| 2014 | Physics | Isamu Akasaki | Chiran | for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources |
| 2014 | Physics | Shuji Nakamura | Ikata | for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources |
| 2015 | Physics | Takaaki Kajita | Higashimatsuyama | for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass |
| 2015 | Physiology or Medicine | Satoshi Ōmura | Yamanashi Prefecture | for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites |
| 2016 | Physiology or Medicine | Yoshinori Ohsumi | Fukuoka | for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy |
| 2018 | Physiology or Medicine | Tasuku Honjo | Kyoto | for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation |
| 2019 | Chemistry | Akira Yoshino | Suita | for the development of lithium-ion batteries |
| 2021 | Physics | Syukuro Manabe | Shingu, Ehime | for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming |
| 2025 | Chemistry | Susumu Kitagawa | Kyoto | for the development of metal–organic frameworks |
| 2025 | Physiology or Medicine | Shimon Sakaguchi | Nagahama, Shiga | for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance |
Physics: Hideki Yukawa won in 1949, for predicting the existence of mesons from his theory of nuclear forces. He was the first person born in Japan to win a Nobel Prize.
Chemistry: Kenichi Fukui won in 1981, for his theory of the course of chemical reactions.
Physiology or Medicine: Susumu Tonegawa won in 1987, for discovering the genetic principle that produces the great variety of antibodies.
In 2008, four people born in Japan won: Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa in physics, for work on broken symmetry in particle physics, and Osamu Shimomura in chemistry, for the green fluorescent protein, GFP.
In 2014, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura shared the physics prize for inventing efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which made bright, energy-saving white light possible.
In 2025, Shimon Sakaguchi won in physiology or medicine, for discoveries about peripheral immune tolerance, and Susumu Kitagawa in chemistry, for developing metal–organic frameworks. The Japan Science and Technology Agency noted that this was the first time since 2015 that researchers from Japan won two science prizes in the same year.
Some prizes are for things used every day. Akira Yoshino shared the 2019 chemistry prize for developing the lithium-ion battery,.
Shinya Yamanaka shared the 2012 prize in physiology or medicine for discovering that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent, that is, able to become many kinds of cells.
Syukuro Manabe shared the 2021 physics prize for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, which made it possible to predict global warming reliably.
This page counts people whose place of birth is in Japan in the Nobel Prize organization’s data. Some of them had also become citizens of the United States.
Lists of “Japanese Nobel laureates” in Japan sometimes count differently. For example, Ei-ichi Negishi, who shared the 2010 chemistry prize with Akira Suzuki, was born in Changchun, China, so he is not in this table.
People born in Japan have also won Nobel Prizes outside the sciences: Yasunari Kawabata (1968), Kenzaburo Oe (1994) and Kazuo Ishiguro (2017) in literature, and Eisaku Sato (1974) for peace.
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