RACING DRIVERS from Japan

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Japanese Racing Drivers of all time. This list of famous Japanese Racing Drivers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Japanese Racing Drivers.

1. Kunimitsu Takahashi (1940 - 2022)

With an HPI of 54.29, Kunimitsu Takahashi is the most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia.

Kunimitsu Takahashi (Shinjitai: 高橋 国光, Takahashi Kunimitsu, 29 January 1940 – 16 March 2022) was a Japanese professional motorcycle road racer, racing driver, and team manager. Nicknamed "Kuni-san", he is known as the "father of drifting". His racing career lasted from 1958 to 1999. He competed on motorcycles between 1958 and 1963, during which he became the first Japanese rider to win a World Grand Prix, taking four world-level wins in total. Injuries sustained in a crash in 1962 led to him switching to four-wheels in 1965, after which he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in class, become a four-time All-Japan Sports Prototype Champion, and won in Japanese Top Formula, JTC, and JGTC. His final victory as a driver in 1999 came at the age of 59. His racing team, Team Kunimitsu, has won multiple championships in Super GT. He was the chairman of the GT Association, the organizers of the Super GT series, from 1993 to 2007.

2. Keiichi Tsuchiya (b. 1956)

With an HPI of 52.98, Keiichi Tsuchiya is the 2nd most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Keiichi Tsuchiya (土屋圭市, Tsuchiya Keiichi, born January 30, 1956) is a Japanese professional race car driver. He is known as the Drift King (ドリキン, Dorikin) for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and the 2001 All Japan GT Championship runner-up. He is also known for touge driving. The car he drives, a Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, has become one of the most popular sports cars; the car is also known as "Hachi-Roku" in Japan (hachi-roku meaning "eight-six"); his car is also called "The Little Hachi that could." A 2-part video known as 'The Touge' produced by Pluspy (styled as +P) documents Tsuchiya's touge driving with his AE86. He was a consultant for the popular manga and anime series, Initial D, of which the main character Takumi Fujiwara is a character which describes him. He also served as a stunt coordinator and stuntman on The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, where he also made a cameo appearance.

3. Satoru Nakajima (b. 1953)

With an HPI of 51.83, Satoru Nakajima is the 3rd most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Satoru Nakajima (中嶋 悟, Nakajima Satoru, born 23 February 1953) is a Japanese former racing driver. He is a five-time Japanese Top Formula champion, and was the first full-time Japanese Formula One driver. Accordingly, he is responsible for several firsts for Japanese drivers in Formula One, including being the first to score championship points (at the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix, where he finished sixth in only his second F1 race), and being the first to record a fastest lap (at the 1989 Australian Grand Prix).

4. Aguri Suzuki (b. 1960)

With an HPI of 49.57, Aguri Suzuki is the 4th most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Aguri Suzuki (鈴木 亜久里, Suzuki Aguri, born 8 September 1960) is a Japanese former racing driver. In Formula One, he participated in 88 Grands Prix between 1988 and 1995, achieving a best result of third at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, which made him the first Asian driver to score a podium finish. He also won the Japanese Top Formula Championship in 1988, and later finished third overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998 and won races in the All-Japan GT Championship. He became involved in team ownership after his Formula One career, first forming Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) in 1997 in partnership with Autobacs. ARTA has competed mostly in Super GT, where they have won titles in both the GT500 and GT300 classes. He was the owner of the Super Aguri F1 team, which participated in Formula One from 2006 to 2008. He also formed Team Aguri, which raced in Formula E from 2014 to 2016.

5. Takuma Sato (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 48.67, Takuma Sato is the 5th most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Takuma Sato (佐藤 琢磨, Satō Takuma, born 28 January 1977), nicknamed "Taku", is a Japanese professional racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 75 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Sato is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, having won the event in 2017 and 2020. He was the first Asian driver to win the Indianapolis 500, and the twentieth driver to win the race more than once. Before winning the Indianapolis 500, Sato became the first Japanese-born driver to win an IndyCar Series race when he won the 2013 Grand Prix of Long Beach. Sato raced full-time in the IndyCar Series from 2010 until 2022 for KV Racing Technology, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Andretti Autosport, and Dale Coyne Racing, all with Honda engines. He competed in Formula One from 2002 to 2008 for the Honda-powered Jordan, BAR and Super Aguri teams, scoring 44 points overall, and a single podium which was at the 2004 United States Grand Prix. His 8th-place finish in the 2004 Formula One World Drivers' Championship was the best-ever result for a Japanese driver in the series until 2021.Sato has become known among fans and media for his motto "no attack, no chance" with regards to his racing style.

6. Toshio Suzuki (b. 1955)

With an HPI of 47.98, Toshio Suzuki is the 6th most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Toshio Suzuki (鈴木 利男, Suzuki Toshio, born March 10, 1955) is a former racing driver from Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

7. Kazuyoshi Hoshino (b. 1947)

With an HPI of 47.86, Kazuyoshi Hoshino is the 7th most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Shinjitai: 星野 一義, Hoshino Kazuyoshi, born in Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, 1 July 1947) is a Japanese former racing driver and businessman.

8. Hiroshi Fushida (b. 1946)

With an HPI of 47.81, Hiroshi Fushida is the 8th most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Hiroshi Fushida (鮒子田 寛, , born 10 March 1946 in Kyoto) is a former racing driver from Japan. He is the first Japanese driver to enter a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, and the first to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race.

9. Masahiro Hasemi (b. 1945)

With an HPI of 47.37, Masahiro Hasemi is the 9th most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Masahiro Hasemi (Shinjitai: 長谷見 昌弘, Hasemi Masahiro, born 13 November 1945 in Tokyo) is a former racing driver and team owner from Japan. He started racing motocross when he was 15 years old. In 1964 he signed to drive for Nissan. After establishing himself in saloon car and GT races in Japan, he participated in his only Formula One race at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix for Kojima on 24 October 1976. He qualified 10th after an error which cost him his chance of a pole position and finished 11th, seven laps behind the winner. Contrary to a widely propagated but mistaken result, however, he never set a fastest lap in a Formula One championship race.1 Along with compatriots Noritake Takahara and Kazuyoshi Hoshino, he was the first Japanese driver to start a Formula One Grand Prix. Hasemi became the Japanese Formula 2 champion in 1980, and got two titles in the Fuji Grand Champion Series in 1974 and 1980. After that he reverted to racing Skylines, which he became heavily synonymous with in Group 5, touring cars and JGTC. He won the Japanese Touring Car Championship in 1989, 1991 and 1992. He also won the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1990, with the controversial win at the Guia Touring Car race at the Macau Grand Prix in 1990 and Daytona 24 hour in 1992. Hasemi retired from driving in 2001 and now runs NDDP Racing, a Super GT team that currently competes in the GT500 class. Hasemi also owns Hasemi Sport, a former Super GT racing team that ran under the Hasemi Motorsport banner and Nissan aftermarket parts company. Hasemi is the most recent Japanese driver to win his home Grand Prix, winning it in 1975, when it was a non-championship race.

10. Ukyo Katayama (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 47.16, Ukyo Katayama is the 10th most famous Japanese Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Ukyo Katayama (片山 右京, Katayama Ukyō, born 29 May 1963) is a Japanese former racing driver and team manager, most notable for competing for six years in Formula One. He participated in 97 Grands Prix, debuting on 1 March 1992. He scored a total of five championship points, all of them for the Tyrrell team in 1994. He also competed in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing 2nd overall and 1st in the GTP class. He currently serves as a team representative for the Japanese continental cycling team JCL Team UKYO and has done so since 2012.