23 Japanese male sprinters

Nobuharu Asahara is a former Japanese athlete who specialized in the 100 meters and long jump. He won the 100 m at the Japanese national championship on five occasions in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002, and he took part in the Olympics four times in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. He represented Japan six times at the World Championships in Athletics.

Asuka Antonio "Aska" Cambridge is a Japanese-born Jamaican track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 metres and 200 metres. His personal best of 10.03 in the 100m gives him Japan's 6th fastest time. He is a two-time East Asian Games gold medallist and a relay bronze medallist at the World Junior Championships in Athletics. His mother is Japanese and his father is Jamaican.

Masashi Eriguchi is a retired Japanese sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres.

Hideyuki Hirose is a Japanese athlete specializing in the 400 metres. He competed at the 2009 World Championships without reaching the final. He won several medals at regional championships mostly in the relay.

Hideo Iijima is a retired Japanese sprint runner and professional baseball player. He competed at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics in the 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay events, but was eliminated in semifinals on all occasions. At the 1968 Games he ran his personal best in all competitions.

Shōta Iizuka is a Japanese sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres.

Shintaro Kimura is a Japanese sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres.

Yoshihide Kiryū is a Japanese sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres.

Yahiko Mishima was a Japanese track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Together with the marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri he was the first ever Olympic competitor for Japan.

Chūhei Nambu was a Japanese track and field athlete. As of 2020, he is the only person to have held world records in both the long jump and the triple jump.

Yoshinori Sakai was the Olympic flame torchbearer who lit the cauldron at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Abdul Hakim Sani Brown born 6 March 1999 is a Japanese athlete specialising in sprinting events. Sani Brown has a Japanese mother and a Ghanaian father. Sani Brown won the 100 metres at the 2015 World Youth Championships in Athletics setting a championship record of 10.28 (−0.4) in the final.

Shingo Suetsugu is a Japanese sprinter. He is a former Asian record holder in the 200 metres and 4×100 metres relay.

Shinji Takahira is a Japanese sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres.

Kei Takase is a Japanese sprinter. He competed in 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and was part of the Japanese 4 × 400 m team. He also competed in the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, held in Moscow. More recently he took part in 100 metres races in various meetings, clocking 10.09 into a slight headwind in Kawasaki in May 2015, performing well enough to represent Japan in the 100 m at the 2015 World Championships as well as in the 200 m. He competed at the 2016 Olympics in the 200 m, only.

Sō Takei is a Japanese tarento and former track and field athlete. He was an established athlete with multiple championships for athletics and decathlon. Takei is currently active as a tarento, frequently appearing on television. He calls himself the King of Beasts, a nickname that has become associated with Takei for his persona in the entertainment industry.

Kotaro Taniguchi is a Japanese sprinter competing primarily in the 200 metres. He finished fourth at the 2015 Asian Championships. As part of the Japanese 4 × 100 metres relay, he won medals at the 2015 IAAF World Relays and 2015 Summer Universiade.

Naoki Tsukahara is a Japanese track and field sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres.

Ryota Yamagata is a Japanese sprinter holding the Japanese record of 9.95 in the 100m.

Atsushi Yamamoto is a leg amputee athlete from Japan competing mainly in category T42 sprint and long jump events. He won silver medals in the long jump at the 2008 and 2016 Paralympics.

Hiroshi Yamamoto was a Japanese sprinter. He attended Konan University prior to his involvement in athletics. He later competed in the men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Yamamoto died at the age of 62.

Hirokazu Yasuda is a retired Japanese hurdler who competed at the 1964 Olympics. He won two bronze medals in the 110 m hurdles at the Asian Games.

Takayoshi Yoshioka was a Japanese sprinter who in 1935 jointly held the 100 m world record at 10.3 seconds. Four other men had clocked 10.3 s in 1935 or earlier, and Takayoshi was the only Asian person among them. He competed in various sprint events at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics and finished sixth in the 100 m in 1932. In retirement Yoshioka worked as an athletics coach.