Featured departure
Nobuo Inaba1950–2026Japanese banker and media executive who served as president and chairman of NHK from 2023 to 2026.- Akira Sasakura1948–2026Japanese novelist who won the 101st Naoki Prize for The Murderer from a Distant Country and later became a Buddhist monk in Thailand.
- Masako Watanabe1929–2026Japanese manga artist known for works such as Glass Castle and Saint Rosalind, and the first female manga artist to receive the Order of the Rising Sun.
- Yoshie Hinoki1942–2026Japanese actress and longtime member of the Haiyuza theater company, known for stage plays, films, and TV dramas.
- Aoki Nobuhiro1970–2026Japanese writer and cultural producer who founded Tokyo's Rakugo Cafe, nurturing young rakugo performers and staging a 2019 Budokan event.
- Shōji Sano?–2026Japanese journalist who founded Big Issue Japan, the street magazine sold by homeless vendors to support their independence.
- Kenichiro Katsura1966–2026Japanese animator and character designer known for character design on Macross 7, Knights & Magic, and SYNDUALITY Noir.
- Toshio Kamo1945–2026Japanese political scientist and professor emeritus of Osaka City University, known for his work on local government and municipal mergers.
- Naoki Bandō1957–2026Japanese voice actor known for roles in Yo-kai Watch, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, and Naruto.
- Akira Ōgushi1937–2026Japanese haiku poet, honorary president of the Haiku Association and long-time selector for the Asahi Haidan, known as a leading 'lyrical' haiku poet.
- Asami Yaguchi1979–2026Japanese voice actress known for voicing Kuchipatchi in the Tamagotchi anime and young Sakata Gintoki in Gintama.
- Shin Sato1938–2026Japanese composer best known for the choral piece 'Daichi Sanshō', widely sung at school ceremonies, and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts.
- Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali1926–2026Malaysian physician and wife of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who served as spouse of the prime minister for nearly 24 years and championed public health and welfare.
- Sō Kuramoto1935–2026Japanese screenwriter and playwright best known for the beloved long-running TV drama Kita no Kuni kara.
- Tokushin Yamauchi1935–2026Japanese politician, former House of Councillors member and six-term Yomitan mayor who campaigned for the return of US military bases in Okinawa.
- Hirokazu Ueyonabaru1971–2026Japanese Paralympic wheelchair racer who won marathon silver at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and two bronze medals at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
- Yoshiji Kaga1940–2026Japanese television producer at Nippon Television who produced dramas such as Torishirabe-shitsu and helped launch the predecessor to the long-running show Shōten.
- Saburo Yamashita1930–2026Four-term mayor of Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, and atomic bomb survivor known as the 'A-bombed mayor' for his testimony in Japan and the United States.
- Kazuhiro Yoshida1970–2026Kazuhiro Yoshida (吉田和宏) was a Japanese suit actor known for his work in tokusatsu films such as Godzilla Final Wars and as the local hero Ganba Lee Alpha.
- Toshio Masuda1927–2026Japanese film director and screenwriter known for Nikkatsu action films, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and the Space Battleship Yamato series.
