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: 21
Starts: 21
Having helped guide Freiburg into the UEFA Europa League with 10 goals and seven assists in 2024/25, Dōan is getting to showcase his skills in the UEFA Champions League this season after completing a summer switch to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Matchday 21
Dōan played 82 minutes of Frankfurt's 1-1 draw away to Union Berlin.
Watch: The best of Ritsu Dōan
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Centre-back
Age: 26 (Born 12 May 1999)
Appearances: 9
Starts: 5
Injury unfortunately disrupted Ito's debut campaign with champions 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 21
Ito came off the bench in the 63rd minute of Bayern's 5-1 thrashing of Hoffenheim.
Club: Mainz
Position: Midfield
Age: 25 (Born 30 December 2000)
Appearances: 21
Starts: 21
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 21
Sano played the full 90 minutes once again as Mainz made it three wins in a row against Augsburg.
Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Position: Striker
Age: 25 (Born 30 September 1999)
Appearances: 19
Starts: 8
Machino was one of Holstein Kiel's brightest sparks in a disappointing maiden Bundesliga season, which saw them relegated back to the second tier. The forward finished the season as the Storks' top scorer with 11 goals, which led Gladbach to come calling in the summer.
Matchday 21
Machino came on in the 88th minute of Gladbach's 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.
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: 23 (Born 30 July 2001)
Appearances: 6
Starts: 2
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 21
Kawasaki was not included in the squad for Mainz's win over Augsburg due to injury.
Club: Freiburg
Position: Midfielder
Age: 24 (Born 25 October 2001)
Appearances: 16
Starts: 11
The former Strasbourg and Brøndby man adds further attacking quality to the Breisgau club's midfield in 2025/26, as Julian Schuster's side look to compete in the Europa League and the Bundesliga.
Matchday 21
Suzuki came on in the 56th minute as Freiburg beat Werder Bremen 1-0.
Club: St. Pauli
Position: Midfielder
Age: 23 (Born 16 February 2002)
Appearances: 20
Starts: 20
Fujita adds further international experience to the St. Pauli midfield as they aim to maintain their Bundesliga status once again.
Matchday 21
Fujita missed his first Bundesliga game of the season against Stuttgart due to a muscle injury.
Club: Werder Bremen (on loan from Southampton)
Position: Defender
Age: 25 (Born 28 June 2000)
Appearances: 20
Starts: 20
On loan from Southampton, Sugawara adds much-needed depth and international experience to Bremen's defensive line.
Matchday 21
Sugawara played the full 90 minutes as Bremen lost to Freiburg.
Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Position: Centre-back
Age: 21 (Born 4 September 2004)
Appearances: 4
Starts: 1
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 21
Takai remained on the bench during the Foals' draw with Leverkusen.
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: Left-back
Age: 19 (Born 18 March 2006)
Appearances: -
Starts: -
Kosugi made 62 appearances for Swedish club Djurgårdens before joining Frankfurt, where he joins an impressive list of Japanese players to represent the Hessen club.
Matchday 21
Kosugi was an unused substitute for Die Adler's trip to Union.
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: Striker
Age: 18 (Born 25 October 2007)
Appearances: -
Starts: -
The young attacker will initially feature for Frankfurt U21s, but he could be called upon in the coming weeks.
Club: St. Pauli
Position: Centre-back
Age: 27 (Born 10 January 1999)
Appearances: 4
Starts: 3
Andō adds strength to Pauli's defensive line, joining the club having helped Japan win the 2024/25 East Asian Championship.
Matchday 21
Andō played the entirety of Pauli's impressive win over Stuttgart.
Club: Wolfsburg
Position: Striker
Age: 20 (Born 26 March 2005)
Appearances: 23
Starts: 1
Shiogai joined the wave of Japanese winter signings in the Bundesliga by swapping NEC Nijmegen for Wolfsburg in January 2026.
Matchday 21
Shiogai made his first Wolfsburg start as the Wolves lost 2-1 to Dortmund.
Club: St. Pauli
Position: Striker
Age: 26 (Born 5 May 1999)
Appearances: 1
Starts: 0
Hara has joined Pauli from Japanese side Kyoto Sanga, adding to the club's already strong Japanese contingent. The striker will be hoping to aid Pauli's attempts to survive in the remainder of the season.
Matchday 21
Hara made his Bundesliga debut very late on against Stuttgart.
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)
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