The Japanese players gracing the Bundesliga in 2025/26
With a growing number of Japan internationals arriving in Germany, bundesliga.com keeps you up-to-date with the progress of the league’s Japanese stars throughout the 2025/26 campaign…
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: Attacking midfielder
Age: 27 (Born 16 June 1998)
Appearances: 29
Starts: 26
Having helped guide Freiburg into the UEFA Europa League with 10 goals and seven assists in 2024/25, Dōan got to showcase his skills in the UEFA Champions League this season after completing a summer switch to Frankfurt.
Matchday 31
Dōan came off the bench at half-time and promptly scored the equaliser in Eintracht's 1-1 draw at Augsburg.
Watch: The best of Ritsu Dōan
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Centre-back
Age: 26 (Born 12 May 1999)
Appearances: 14
Starts: 8
Injury disrupted Ito's debut campaign with Bayern, as the Japan international made just eight appearances in all competitions in 2024/25. Having made his long-awaited comeback on Matchday 11, the defender will hope to play more of a part in the side's title defence this time around.
Matchday 31
Ito played the full 90 minutes as the newly crowned Bundesliga champions pulled of a sensational comeback win in Mainz.
Club: Mainz
Position: Midfield
Age: 25 (Born 30 December 2000)
Appearances: 31
Starts: 31
Sano was one of the driving forces behind Mainz's incredible 2024/25 campaign, covering a league-best 393.7 km as the 05ers stormed to a sixth-place finish in Bo Henriksen's first full season in charge.
Matchday 31
Sano continued his run of starting every game of the season as he played the entire 90 minutes of Mainz's home defeat by Bayern.
Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Position: Striker
Age: 26 (Born 30 September 1999)
Appearances: 29
Starts: 8
Machino was one of Holstein Kiel's brightest sparks in a disappointing maiden Bundesliga season in 2024/25, which saw them relegated back to the second tier. The forward finished the campaign as the Storks' top scorer with 11 goals, which earned him a move to Gladbach in the summer.
Matchday 31
Machino made a very late sub appearance in Gladbach's goalless stalemate with Wolfsburg.
Watch: All of Machino's goals for Holstein Kiel
Club: Hoffenheim
Position: Defender
Age: 28 (Born 25 August 1997)
Appearances: 1
Starts: 1
Machida has not played since suffering a serious knee injury on his Bundesliga debut.
Club: Mainz
Position: Midfielder
Age: 24 (Born 30 July 2001)
Appearances: 10
Starts: 3
On loan with an option to buy from Japanese side Kyoto Sanga, the energetic midfielder provides much-needed depth to the Mainz engine room, which is also having to contend with UEFA Conference League football in 2025/26.
Matchday 31
Kawasaki was an unused substitute in Mainz's high-scoring defeat by Bayern.
Club: Freiburg
Position: Midfielder
Age: 24 (Born 25 October 2001)
Appearances: 24
Starts: 17
The former Strasbourg and Brøndby man adds further attacking quality to the Breisgau club's midfield as Julian Schuster's side look to compete in the Europa League and the Bundesliga in 2025/26.
Matchday 31
Suzuki was not included in the match squad for Freiburg's trip to Dortmund.
Club: St. Pauli
Position: Midfielder
Age: 24 (Born 16 February 2002)
Appearances: 29
Starts: 28
Fujita adds further international experience to a St. Pauli side aiming to preserve their Bundesliga status once again.
Matchday 31
Fujita played 45 minutes of Pauli's 2-0 defeat by Heidenheim, before being replaced at half-time.
Club: Werder Bremen (on loan from Southampton)
Position: Defender
Age: 25 (Born 28 June 2000)
Appearances: 29
Starts: 27
On loan from Southampton, Sugawara adds much-needed depth and international experience to Bremen's defensive line.
Matchday 31
Sugawara played the entire game and recorded an assist as Bremen held Stuttgart to a 1-1 draw at the MHP Arena.
Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Position: Centre-back
Age: 21 (Born 4 September 2004)
Appearances: 8
Starts: 3
On loan from Tottenham Hotspur for the remainder of 2025/26, Takai, who has four international caps with Japan, adds depth to Gladbach's defence.
Matchday 31
A 90th-minute substitute, Takai was unable to inspire Gladbach to find a winning goal in Wolfsburg.
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: Left-back
Age: 19 (Born 18 March 2006)
Appearances: -
Starts: -
Kosugi made 62 appearances for Swedish club Djurgårdens before moving to Frankfurt, where he joins an impressive list of Japanese players to represent the Hessen club.
Matchday 31
Kosugi did not make the squad for the draw in Augsburg.
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: Striker
Age: 18 (Born 25 October 2007)
Appearances: -
Starts: -
The young attacker will initially feature for Frankfurt U21s, but could be called upon in the coming weeks.
Club: St. Pauli
Position: Centre-back
Age: 27 (Born 10 January 1999)
Appearances: 12
Starts: 10
Andō adds strength to Pauli's defensive line, having joined the club after helping Japan win the 2024/25 East Asian Championship.
Matchday 31
Andō played from start to finish in Pauli's loss at Heidenheim.
Club: Wolfsburg
Position: Striker
Age: 21 (Born 26 March 2005)
Appearances: 10
Starts: 2
Shiogai joined the wave of Japanese winter signings in the Bundesliga by swapping NEC Nijmegen for Wolfsburg in January 2026.
Matchday 31
Shiogai was an unused substitute in Wolfsburg's 0-0 draw with Gladbach.
Club: St. Pauli
Position: Striker
Age: 26 (Born 5 May 1999)
Appearances: 3
Starts: 0
Hara has joined Pauli from Kyoto Sanga, adding to the club's already strong Japanese contingent.
Matchday 31
The forward was an unused substitute in the defeat at Heidenheim.
Japanese players in Bundesliga 2
Koji Miyoshi (Bochum)
Yosuke Furukawa (Darmstadt)
Hiroki Akiyama (Darmstadt)
Shinta Appelkamp (Fortuna Düsseldorf)
Daisuke Yokota (Hannover 96)
Shio Fukuda (Karlsruhe, on loan from Gladbach)
