Famous Japanese Engineers

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 1 
Soichiro Honda
(Japanese Industrialist, Engineer and Founder of the Renowned Automobile Manufacturer, 'Honda Motor Co., Ltd')
Soichiro Honda
6
Birthdate: November 17, 1906
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
Died: August 5, 1991

Soichiro Honda was a Japanese industrialist and engineer. He is credited with establishing the world-renowned automobile manufacturer, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. He is also credited with overseeing the company's growth from a wooden shack manufacturing unit to a multinational conglomerate manufacturer of motorcycle and automobile. Soichiro Honda was made an inductee of the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1989.

 2 
Jiro Horikoshi
(Aerospace engineer, Engineer)
Jiro Horikoshi
5
Birthdate: June 22, 1903
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Fujioka
Died: January 11, 1982

Jiro Horikoshi was a Japanese engineer who played an important role during the Second World War, serving as the chief engineer of several Japanese fighter aircraft, including the famous Mitsubishi A6M Zero. Jiro Horikoshi's life and career inspired a fictionalized biographical animated film titled The Wind Rises which was directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

 3 
Yukio Hatoyama
(Politician, Engineer)
Yukio Hatoyama
3
Birthdate: February 11, 1947
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Bunkyō, Tokyo

Born into a family of Japanese politicians that has been compared to the Kennedy family of the U.S., Yukio Hatoyama has served as Japan’s prime minister and as the Democratic Party president. An engineer, who later obtained a PhD from Stanford, he has also taught at a few universities earlier.

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 4 
Yukihiro Matsumoto
(Japanese Computer Scientist and Programmer Who Introduced the 'Ruby Programming Language')
Yukihiro Matsumoto
3
Birthdate: April 14, 1965
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Ōsaka Prefecture

Japanese computer scientist Yukihiro Matsumoto, better known as Matz, soared to fame for designing the Ruby programming language. He works for the open-source company Netlab.jp and has created many open-source products, such as cmail. He has also worked as a missionary for the LDS Church.

 5 
Taiichi Ohno
(Japanese Industrial Engineer and Businessman)
Taiichi Ohno
3
Birthdate: February 29, 1912
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Dalian, China
Died: May 28, 1990

Japanese businessman and industrial engineer Ohno Taiichi is remembered for his efforts toward the reduction of muda, or waste, and the implementation of the kanban, or just-in-time system in Toyota. His popular books on manufacturing include Toyota Production System and Just-in-Time for Today and Tomorrow.

 6 
Shuji Nakamura
(Electronic engineer and prolific inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology)
Shuji Nakamura
3
Birthdate: May 22, 1954
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Ikata, Ehime, Japan
 7 
Akihiro Hino
(The Founder and CEO of Video Games Developing Company 'Level-5')
Akihiro Hino
2
Birthdate: July 20, 1968
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Ōmuta

The founder of Level-5, video game designer Akihiro Hino began his career as a programmer and later designed popular games such as the Dark Cloud series and the Professor Layton series. He has designed for major console brands such as PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable.

 8 
Shigeo Shingo
(Industrial engineer)
Shigeo Shingo
2
Birthdate: 1909 AD
Birthplace: Saga, Japan
Died: 1990 AD
 9 
Isamu Akasaki
(Japanese Physicist and Engineer Who Won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics)
Isamu Akasaki
2
Birthdate: January 30, 1929
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Chiran, Kagoshima, Japan
Died: April 1, 2021

Isamu Akasaki was a Japanese physicist and engineer. Isamu, who specializes in semiconductor technology, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 along with Shuji Nakamura and Hiroshi Amano. Isamu Akasaki also won other prestigious awards like the Kyoto Prize, IEEE Edison Medal, Charles Stark Draper Prize, and Asia Game Changer Award.

 10 
Koichi Tanaka
(Electrical Engineer who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002)
Koichi Tanaka
2
Birthdate: August 3, 1959
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Toyama, Toyama, Japan
 11 
Hideo Shima
(Engineer)
Hideo Shima
1
Birthdate: May 20, 1901
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Died: March 18, 1998
 12 
Nobutoshi Kihara
(Engineer)
Nobutoshi Kihara
1
Birthdate: October 14, 1926
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
Died: February 13, 2011
 13 
Toshiwo Doko
(Engineer)
Toshiwo Doko
0
Birthdate: September 15, 1896
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Okayama, Japan
Died: August 4, 1988