The Most Famous J-Drama Stars in the World (Alive), August 2026Alive
Top 28 of 28 ranked · August 2026 · See today's live standing →
First issue under methodology v5.62. Movement begins with the next issue frozen under the same version.
Three historical figures out, three leading men in on the living J-Drama list
iFAMOUS Editorial Desk · 1 min read
The August 2026 Alive reading of the J-Drama list removes a daimyo, an emperor and a shogun and admits Ryo Yoshizawa, Kentaro Sakaguchi and Satoshi Tsumabuki.
The J-Drama sector loses three of its top fifteen in the Alive reading for August 2026, and all three have been dead for centuries. Date Masamune, the Sengoku lord of Sendai, Emperor Antoku and Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the fifteenth-century shogun, leave the table, and a fourth dead name below the fifteen goes with them. Twenty-eight of the 32 names measured are living.
Three actors take the vacated places. Ryo Yoshizawa, known for his expressive eyes and natural style, enters at thirteenth with 1.6. Kentaro Sakaguchi, one of Asia's most recognisable leading men, is fourteenth at 1.5, and Satoshi Tsumabuki, actor and musician, fifteenth at 1.4. All three sit in a band so narrow that a single strong month for any of them would reorder it.
Ken Watanabe leads the living at 8.5, ahead of Mackenyu at 7.2 and Chiaki Kuriyama at 6.5. The gap between Kuriyama and the fourth living name, Shun Oguri at 4.6, is nearly two points, and Oguri and Tomohisa Yamashita, who tie, have each spent more than two decades at the front of Japanese screen work. Takeru Satō is sixth at 4.1.
The generation raised on live-action manga holds the middle. Mackenyu built his career on adaptations, and Kento Yamazaki, eighth at 3.3, is the most bankable star in that form. Ryūsei Yokohama, eleventh at 2, is one of the most in-demand leading men of his age group. Yu Aoi, seventh, and Nana Komatsu, tenth, join Kuriyama as the three women in the living fifteen. Kōji Yakusho, ninth at 2.9, spans independent films and historical epics. Among the living, this is a list of actors, and the history they perform has been set aside.
| Rank | Name | Score | Live |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ken Watanabe  celebrity | 8.5 | iFANN → |
| 2 |  Mackenyu  celebrity | 7.2 | iFANN → |
| 3 |  Chiaki Kuriyama celebrity | 6.5 | iFANN → |
| 4 |  Shun Oguri celebrity | 4.6 | iFANN → |
| 5 |  Tomohisa Yamashita celebrity | 4.6 | iFANN → |
| 6 |  Takeru Satō celebrity | 4.1 | iFANN → |
| 7 |  Yu Aoi celebrity | 3.4 | iFANN → |
| 8 |  Kento Yamazaki celebrity | 3.3 | iFANN → |
| 9 |  Kōji Yakusho celebrity | 2.9 | iFANN → |
| 10 |  Nana Komatsu celebrity | 2.5 | iFANN → |
| 11 |  Ryūsei Yokohama celebrity | 2.0 | iFANN → |
| 12 |  Takayuki Yamada celebrity | 1.9 | iFANN → |
| 13 |  Ryo Yoshizawa celebrity | 1.6 | iFANN → |
| 14 |  Kentaro Sakaguchi celebrity | 1.5 | iFANN → |
| 15 |  Satoshi Tsumabuki celebrity | 1.4 | iFANN → |
| 16 |  Reiko Yoshida celebrity | 1.2 | iFANN → |
| 17 |  Kimiko Yo  celebrity | 1.2 | iFANN → |
| 18 |  Taishi Nakagawa celebrity | 1.0 | iFANN → |
| 19 |  Kento Kaku celebrity | 1.0 | iFANN → |
| 20 |  Mikako Ichikawa celebrity | 1.0 | iFANN → |
| 21 |  Kurumi Inagaki celebrity | 0.7 | iFANN → |
| 22 |  Yugo Kanno celebrity | 0.7 | iFANN → |
| 23 |  Moeka Hoshi celebrity | 0.6 | iFANN → |
| 24 |  Mutsuo Yoshioka celebrity | 0.5 | iFANN → |
| 25 | Ruka Matsuda celebrity | 0.5 | iFANN → |
| 26 |  Kaito Sakurai celebrity | 0.5 | iFANN → |
| 27 | Kimie Arashiyama celebrity | 0.2 | iFANN → |
| 28 |  Tomoko Yamashita celebrity | 0.1 | iFANN → |
About this list
This list ranks the most famous j-drama stars in the world as of August 2026, by overall global fame rather than one month's attention. It is the top 28 of 28 names the rankings measured in this sector, frozen as the permanent record of that edition. This is the Alive reading: living people only. The standard reading ranks everyone, living or dead, on one scale, and is one click away.
Ken Watanabe is No. 1 on this list for August 2026. Behind Ken Watanabe come Mackenyu and Chiaki Kuriyama.
What famous means here
Fame, in iFAMOUS, is how widely the world knows a name: how recognisable a person's name, face or work is, and how well people know who they are. It is assessed from extensive historical and current public data, some of it reaching back more than twenty years, and it is not merit, talent, importance or popularity on iFANN. The rankings model real-world global fame, not internet fame; the data is the instrument, not the subject. Activity on iFANN itself is excluded.
The month in the title is the date of this edition, not the period measured. The list is a snapshot of overall fame as it stood when the issue was frozen: a name does not lose its place because one month was quiet, and a trending moment alone does not put a name here. Trending attention is published separately on ifann.net.
How the list was ranked
The iFANN Global Fame Rankings combine worldwide Wikipedia readership across languages, worldwide news coverage and search interest anchored against stable reference names, with search history reaching back to 2004. A twelve-month baseline sits behind the current reading and short-lived surges are capped, so the list reflects durable recognition rather than one week of headlines. Rankings are computed daily on ifann.net and frozen on the second day of the following month as that month's issue; a published issue never changes.
About J-Drama
J-Drama is one of the sectors the journal ranks every month, alongside every country, origin and region list in this issue. Sector lists use the same rankings and the same scale as The 100, so a name can be compared across sectors and against the world. Japanese live-action TV drama, romance, thrillers and dorama hits.
Powered by iFANN
iFAMOUS is published by iFANN and powered by the iFANN Global Fame Rankings v5.62. Today's live standing for this list is on ifann.net; the journal freezes it once a month so it can be cited permanently.
Related searches: most famous j-drama stars in the world 2026, top j-drama stars August 2026, j-drama stars fame ranking, most famous j-drama stars alive.
"Ken Watanabe, No. 1 on The Most Famous J-Drama Stars in the World (Alive), August 2026", iFAMOUS No. 1 (August 2026), ifamous.org