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The Land of the Rising Sun has produced 20 Formula 1 drivers over the years, with a 21st, Yuki Tsunoda, due to make his Grand Prix debut in 2021. Tsunoda will hope to fare better than many of his Japanese countrymen who have so far failed to stand on the top step of the podium in Formula 1.
See also: Yuki Tsunoda is the first 21st century F1 driver
Japan has always had a powerful relationship with the motorcar. Manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota and Mazda have a rich history of competitive motorsport, categories such as Super GT and Super Formula have attracted Formula 1 drivers from around the world, and the country has its own unique take on car culture with competitive drifting and amazing car customization being commonplace.
Japanese manufacturers have seen success with Formula 1 drivers too, particularly the McLaren-Honda entries of the 1980s. Honda and Toyota both had their own F1 teams in the 2000s, with the former seeing a maiden victory for Jenson Button in 2006 and the latter scoring 13 podium finishes between 2002 and 2009.
Japan's Most Memorable Formula 1 drivers
Japan has also hosted some of the all-time classic F1 races, such as the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix which saw an epic battle between Formula 1 drivers Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen around the twists of Suzuka. The 2007 race at Mount Fuji will also long be remembered for a battling drive from then rookie Lewis Hamilton in dreadful conditions. Of course, there's also the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix where James Hunt took his only title triumph, which was immortalized in the blockbuster film Rush.
Here's our pick of ten of the most memorable Formula 1 drivers from Japan. Some saw success, others had a more challenging time in the world of Grand Prix racing. All of them left their mark.
Takuma Sato
Sato is probably best known now as a double Indy 500 champion, the first Japanese and the first Asian driver to win the Great Race.
Among Formula 1 drivers, Sato saw limited success, with a best finish of third at the US Grand Prix in 2004. The Honda-backed driver never tasted Grand Prix victory, whereas his teammate Jenson Button went on to win the 2009 world champion after Takuma had made the switch to racing in America.
Possibly his best achievement among Formula 1 drivers was in Canada in 2007, when Sato had a great battle with reigning champion Fernando Alonso, eventually passing the Spaniard's McLaren for a well-deserved sixth-place finish.
Toranosuke Takagi
Takagi was taken under the wing of Satoru Nakajima in Japanese F3. He drove full time in F1 for the underfunded Tyrrell and Arrows teams, without ever scoring points among Formula 1 drivers.
Takagi, nicknamed Tora ,which means Tiger, was known as one of the most fierce Formula 1 drivers who never really had many changes in F1. He switched back to Formula Nippon after his F1 stint, winning eight out of 10 races to take the title. Subsequently he moved to America, where his open-wheel career very much paved the way for compatriot Sato.
Satoru Nakajima
The first Japanese driver to run full time among Formual 1 drivers, rather than making one-off appearances, Nakajima started 74 races for Lotus and Tyrrell. He immediately woke up the European F1 establishment with a points finish in his second Grand Prix.
Satoru took 16 career points and showed Japan that Formula 1 was a career option for a competitive racer.
Kazuki Nakajima
The son of Satoru, Kazuki leveraged his Toyota backing to drive for two seasons with Williams. Nakajima, like his father, scored multiple points finishes among Formula 1 drivers, and while not as fast as teammate Nico Rosberg, he was a consistent and reliable competitor.
Kazuki Nakajima went on to become the second Japanese driver to win a FIA world championship as the World Endurance Champion of the 2018-2019 season alongside teammates Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Buemi.
Aguri Suzuki
The greatest glory of Suzuki's career among Formula 1 drivers was a podium in front of his home fans at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, but Aguri Suzuki's greatest achievement among Formula 1 drivers was arguably the period where he had his own Grand Prix team, Super Aguri Honda.
Super Aguri only entered 39 races in its short existence but provided opportunities for Formula 1 drivers Takuma Sato, Sakon Yamamoto and Yuji Ide. In 2007, Super Aguri often took the battle to the main Honda team, with Sato picking up a couple of points finishes.
Ukyo Katayama
In the dangerous early-90s period among Formula 1 drivers was a steely racer who recovered from several big accidents, including an appalling start line with Luca Badoer at Estoril.
One of these incidents would change Katayama's life, as a medical inspection after another major crash revealed a tumour on his spine. Ukyo delayed treatment to meet his racing commitments but turned down a switch to front runners Benetton so as not to have to explain his medical problems. Benetton won eleven of seventeen races in the following season.
Ukyo Katayama survived his cancer and went on to narrowly miss out on a Le Mans victory due to a puncture. He also went on to commentate on F1 for Japanese television, as well as run his own team in Japanese Super GT.
Yuji Ide
Ide was an inexperienced driver among Formula 1 drivers, who only competed in four F1 races before being stripped of his superlicense.
Yuji Ide, the slowest in qualifying among Formula 1 drivers at each of these four races, was banned from F1 after understeering into Christijan Albers at Imola and causing the Dutchman to roll repeatedly.
Ide serves as a reminder of the dangers for inexperienced Formula 1 drivers.
Shinji Nakano
Nakano, backed by Honda tuners Mugen, entered 33 races for Prost and Minardi. He was one of the more talented Formula 1 drivers whose close links with the Mugen-Honda engine would cause his career to stutter as backmarker customer teams abandoned the pricier power unit for cheaper alternatives. His career was also damaged by being paired with Saturday specialist Jarno Trulli.
Shinji Nakano is another Japanese driver who found a home in American open-wheel racing after his Formula 1 exile.
Kamui Kobayashi
Kamui made a name for himself right from his debut among Formula 1 drivers, holding off Jenson Button's Brawn for lap after lap around the tricky Interlagos circuit. While the Brit eventually did pass Kobayashi to seal the 2009 world championship, many took note of the battling drive.
Kamui scored a podium in front of his home crowd in 2012 but was still dropped by the cash-strapped Sauber team. Such was his reputation and popularity that he was able to crowdfund enough to get back into F1 for an additional season in 2014. Kamui Kobayashi subsequently switched to endurance racing, where he and the Toyota #7 team were world champions of 2019-2020.
Taki Inoue
Now a popular social media personality, Taki Inoue has a legitimate claim to be the worst driver ever to enter F1. The Japanese driver revels in his infamy and his self-deprecating wit have made him a star of Twitter.
Taki had a pair of tangles with course cars: in Monaco he was being towed out of harm's way in a practice session when a course car lost control and flipped the unfortunate Footwork driver; and in Hungary when his engine failed and he was rushing for an extinguisher when he was hit by the medical car.
Taki's five finishes from eighteen starts were all well out of contention for points, with some truly laughable performances. It's a good thing he has a sense of humor about it.
