Japan competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 306 competitors, 157 men and 149 women, took part in 168 events in 27 sports.
Medalists
| width="78%" align="left" valign="top" | Medal Name Sport Event Date Yuko Emoto Judo Women's half middleweight July 23 Kenzo Nakamura Judo Men's lightweight July 24 Tadahiro Nomura Judo Men's extra lightweight July 26 Yoko Tanabe Judo Women's half heavyweight July 21 Toshihiko Koga Judo Men's half middleweight July 23 Yukimasa Nakamura Judo Men's half lightweight July 25 Ryoko Tamura Judo Women's extra lightweight July 26 Alicia KinoshitaYumiko Shige Sailing Women's 470 August 1 Masanori SugiuraTakayuki TakabayashiYoshitomo TaniHitoshi OnoYasuyuki SaigoTomoaki SatoDaishin NakamuraMasahiro NojimaHideaki OkuboKoichi MisawaMasahiko MoriMasao MorinakaTakashi KurosuTakao KuwamotoNobuhiko MatsunakaTakeo KawamuraJutaro KimuraKosuke FukudomeTadahito IguchiMakoto Imaoka Baseball Men's tournament August 2 Takanobu Jumonji Cycling Men's 1000 m time trial July 24 Noriko Narazaki Judo Women's half lightweight July 25 Yuko Arimori Athletics Women's marathon July 28 Takuya Ota Wrestling Men's freestyle 74 kg August 2 Junko TanakaMiya TachibanaKaori TakahashiMiho TakedaMiho KawabeAkiko KawaseRiho NakajimaRaika FujiiMayuko FujikiRei Jimbo Synchronized swimming Women's competition August 2 | width=22% align=left valign=top | Medals by sportSport TotalJudo 3 4 18Baseball 0 1 01Sailing 0 1 01Athletics 0 0 11Cycling 0 0 11Synchronized swimming 0 0 11Wrestling 0 0 11 Total 3 6 5 14
Archery
In the nation's sixth Olympic archery competition, three of Japan's five archers won their first matches. All three lost in the second round, however. Men AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankTakayoshi MatsushitaIndividual65725W 163–162L 156–157Did not advanceHiroshi Yamamoto66513W 155–154L 163–164Did not advance
Women AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankKinue KodamaIndividual61352W 159–147L 151–155Did not advanceMisato Koide58358L 141–159Did not advanceAi Ouchi63143L 152–152Did not advanceKinue KodamaMisato KoideAi OuchiTeam182714colspan=2L 217–222Did not advance
Athletics
Men Track and road events
AthleteEventHeatsQuarterfinalSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankNobuharu Asahara100 metres10.2818 Q10.1913 Q10.1610Did not advanceHiroyasu Tsuchie10.5865Did not advanceKoji Ito200 metres20.5611 Q20.477 Q20.4510Did not advanceTakahiro Mazuka21.1359Did not advanceShigekazu Omori400 metres46.3034Did not advanceKatsuhiko Hanada10,000 metres28:52.2227colspan=4Did not advanceToshinari Takaoka28:38.1823colspan=4Did not advanceKenjiro JitsuiMarathoncolspan=62:33:2793Masaki Oyacolspan=62:22:1354Hiromi Taniguchicolspan=62:17:2619Shunji Karube400 metres hurdles48.9617colspan=2Did not advanceHideaki Kawamura49.8832colspan=2Did not advanceKazuhiko Yamazaki49.0719colspan=2Did not advanceHiroyasu TsuchieKoji ItoSatoru InoueNobuharu Asahara4 × 100 metres relaycolspan=2Did not advanceShunji KarubeKoji ItoJun OsakadaShigekazu OmoriKenji Tabata*4 × 400 metres relay3:02.829 Qcolspan=23:01.926 Q3:00.765Daisuke Ikeshima20 kilometres walkcolspan=61:24:5421Tadahiro Kosaka50 kilometres walkcolspan=64:05:5729
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionTomohiro NomuraHigh jump2.1527Did not advanceTeruyasu YonekuraPole vault5.2030Did not advanceNobuharu AsaharaLong jump7.4636Did not advance
Women Track and road events
AthleteEventHeatsQuarterfinalSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankHarumi Hiroyama5000 metres15:50.4327colspan=4Did not advanceYoshiko Ichikawa15:58.9034colspan=4Did not advanceMichiko Shimizu15:23.5612 Qcolspan=415:09.054Masako Chiba10,000 metres31:37.034 Qcolspan=431:20.625Yuko Kawakami32:31.6917 Qcolspan=431:23.237Hiromi Suzuki31:54.897 Qcolspan=432:43.3916Yuko ArimoriMarathoncolspan=62:28:39Junko Asaricolspan=62:34:3117Izumi Makicolspan=62:32:3512Yvonne Kanazawa100 metres hurdles13.3035Did not advanceYuka Mitsumori10 kilometres walkcolspan=6
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionAkiko MiyajimaJavelin throw53.9829Did not advance
Badminton
Baseball
Defending bronze medalist Japan competed for the second time in the Olympic baseball tournament. They got off to a rough start, losing three of their first four games to Australia, Cuba, and the United States. After winning their next three, however, the Japanese were in a tie with the Nicaraguans for third and fourth places. Since Japan had beaten Nicaragua in head-to-head competition, they won the tie-breaker and faced the United States in the semifinals rather than the Cubans, which had not lost any of their 16 games in the 1992 and 1996 Olympiads. Japan defeated the United States to advance to the final, where they became the Cubans' 18th victim (Nicaragua's loss in the semifinals being the 17th win for Cuba).
Men's Team Competition: Japan - Silver Medal (5-4)
Basketball
Women's tournament
Preliminary round
Quarterfinals
Classification Round 5th−8th place
7th place game
Beach volleyball
Shoji Setoyama and Kazuyuki Takao — 17th place overall
Boxing
Men's Flyweight (– 51 kg) Kazumasa Tsujimoto First Round — Lost to Lernik Papyan (Armenia), 5-10
Men's Light Welterweight (– 63,5 kg) Fumitaka Nitami First Round — Lost to Eduard Zakharov (Russia), 6-21
Men's Middleweight (– 75 kg) Hirokuni Moto First Round — Defeated Tao Chen (China), 15-10 First Round — Lost to Tomasz Borowski (Poland), 6-11
Canoeing
Canoe Slalom Men's canoe single slalom C-1 Masanari Mochida (22nd)
Men's kayak singles slalom K-1 Tsuyoshi Fujino (36th)
Women's kayak singles slalom K-1 Hiroko Kobayashi (17th)
Canoe Sprint Women's K-1 500 metres Sayuri Maruyama (Semifinal 2)
Women's K-2 500 metres Chieko Akagi, Asako Watanabe (repechages)
Women's K-4 500 metres Sayuri Maruyama, Keiko Muto, Natsuki Nishi, Asako Watanabe (Semifinal 2)
Cycling
Track Competition Men's Points Race Masahiro Yasuhara Final — 2 points (→ 15th place)
Mountain Bike Men's Cross Country Kyoshi Miura Final — 2:45:03 (→ 26th place)
Women's Cross Country Kanako Tanikawa Final — 2:05.44 (→ 23rd place)
Diving
Women's 3m Springboard Yuki Motobuchi Preliminary Heat — 262.71 Semi Final — 210.00 Final — 296.04 (→ 6th place)
Equestrianism
Fencing
Four fencers, one man and three women, represented Japan in 1996.
Men's foil Hiroki Ichigatani
Women's épée Noriko Kubo Yuko Arai Nanae Tanaka
Women's team épée Nanae Tanaka, Noriko Kubo, Yuko Arai
Football
Men's competition
Women's competition
Gymnastics
Judo
Rhythmic gymnastics
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Softball
Women's team competition Preliminary Round Robin Defeated Netherlands (3:0) Defeated PR China (3:0) Lost to United States (1:6) Defeated Canada (4:0) Lost to Australia (0:10) Defeated Puerto Rico (8:1) Defeated Chinese Taipei (5:1) Semifinals Lost to Australia (0:3) Bronze Medal Match Did not advance → 4th place
Team roster Juri Takayama Noriko Yamaji Haruka Saito Misako Ando Naomi Matsumoto Yoshiko Fujimoto Ikuko Fukita Noriko Harada Mayumi Inoue Chika Kodama Kyoko Kobayashi Kyoko Mochida Emi Tsukada Masako Watanabe Tomoko Watanabe Head coach: Mitsutoshi Suzumura
Swimming
Men's 50 metres Freestyle: Yukihiro Matsushita Heat — 23.60 (→ did not advance, 35th place)
Men's 100 metres Freestyle: Shunsuke Ito Heat — 51.29 (→ did not advance, 37th place)
Men's 200 metres Freestyle: Shunsuke Ito Heat — 1:51.97 (→ did not advance, 23rd place)
Men's 400 metres Freestyle: Hisato Yasui Heat — 4:00.19 (→ did not advance, 24th place)
Men's 1500 m Freestyle Masato Hirano Heat — 15:19.48 B-Final — 15:17.28 (→ 6th place)
Hisato Yasui Heat — 15:43.66 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)
Men's 100 m Backstroke Keitaro Konnai Heat — 56.35 B-Final — 55.74 (→ 9th place)
Hajime Itoi Heat — 56.22 B-Final — 56.23 (→ 11th place)
Men's 200 m Backstroke Hajime Itoi Heat — 2:00.43 Final — 2:00.10 (→ 5th place)
Ryuji Horii Heat — 2:02.33 B-Final — 2:01.54 (→ 9th place)
Men's 100 m Breaststroke Akira Hayashi Heat — 1:02.63 B-Final — 1:02.75 (→ 12th place)
Yoshinobu Miyazaki Heat — 1:03.13 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)
Men's 200 m Breaststroke Akira Hayashi Heat — 2:15.37 B-Final — 2:16.69 (→ 16th place)
Men's 100 m Butterfly Takashi Yamamoto Heat — 53.95 B-Final — 53.98 (→ 13th place)
Yukihiro Matsushita Heat — 54.50 (→ did not advance, 20th place)
Men's 200 m Butterfly Takashi Yamamoto Heat — 2:00.87 (→ did not advance, 20th place)
Men's 200 m Individual Medley Tatsuya Kinugasa Heat — 2:03.42 B-Final — 2:04.59 (→ 14th place)
Jo Yoshimi Heat — 2:04.49 B-Final — 2:05.42 (→ 16th place)
Men's 400 m Individual Medley Toshiaki Kurasawa Heat — 4:24.83 B-Final — 4:23.36 (→ 10th place)
Tatsuya Kinugasa Heat — 4:26.73 B-Final — 4:24.25 (→ 11th place)
Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay Keitaro Konnai, Akira Hayashi, Takashi Yamamoto and Shunsuke Ito Heat — 3:41.78 Final — 3:40.51 (→ 5th place)
Women's 50 m Freestyle Sumika Minamoto Heat — 25.89 B-Final — 26.05 (→ 12th place)
Women's 100 m Freestyle Sumika Minamoto Heat — 57.25 (→ did not advance, 25th place)
Women's 200 m Freestyle Suzu Chiba Heat — 2:01.11 B-Final — 2:01.00 (→ 10th place)
Naoko Imoto Heat — 2:03.78 (→ did not advance, 20th place)
Women's 400 m Freestyle Eri Yamanoi Heat — 4:13.40 Final — 4:11.68 (→ 7th place)
Suzu Chiba Heat — 4:16.07 B-Final — 4:16.60 (→ 13th place)
Women's 800 m Freestyle Eri Yamanoi Heat — 8:40.47 (→ did not advance, 10th place)
Aiko Miyake Heat — 8:55.77 (→ did not advance, 21st place)
Women's 100 m Backstroke Mai Nakamura Heat — 1:02.35 Final — 1:02.33 (→ 4th place)
Miki Nakao Heat — 1:02.90 Final — 1:02.78 (→ 8th place)
Women's 200 m Backstroke Mai Nakamura Heat — 2:15.05 B-Final — 2:13.40 (→ 9th place)
Miki Nakao Heat — 2:12.92 Final — 2:13.57 (→ 5th place)
Women's 100 m Breaststroke Masami Tanaka Heat — 1:09.89 B-Final — 1:10.43 (→ 13th place)
Kyoko Iwasaki Heat — 1:11.33 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)
Women's 200 m Breaststroke Masami Tanaka Heat — 2:29.36 Final — 2:28.05 (→ 5th place)
Kyoko Iwasaki Heat — 2:30.84 B-Final — 2:29.32 (→ 10th place)
Women's 100 m Butterfly Hitomi Kashima Heat — 1:00.85 Final — 1:00.11 (→ 4th place)
Ayari Aoyama Heat — 1:00.20 Final — 1:00.18 (→ 6th place)
Women's 200 m Butterfly Hitomi Kashima Heat — 2:16.04 B-Final — 2:13.97 (→ 14th place)
Mika Haruna Heat — 2:12.59 Final — 2:11.93 (→ 7th place)
Women's 200 m Individual Medley Fumie Kurotori Heat — 2:20.58 (→ did not advance, 28th place)
Women's 400 m Individual Medley Fumie Kurotori Heat — 4:48.51 B-Final — 4:47.98 (→ 12th place)
Hideko Hiranaka Heat — 4:49.32 B-Final — 4:48.72 (→ 13th place)
Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay Sumika Minamoto, Naoko Imoto, Eri Yamanoi and Suzu Chiba Heat — 3:48.77 (→ did not advance, 12th place)
Women's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay Eri Yamanoi, Naoko Imoto, Aiko Miyake and Suzu Chiba Heat — 8:09.46 Final — 8:07.46 (→ 4th place)
Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay Mai Nakamura, Masami Tanaka, Ayari Aoyama and Suzu Chiba Heat — 4:10.71 (→ did not advance, 9th place)
Synchronized swimming
Table tennis
Tennis
Men's Singles Competition Shuzo Matsuoka First round — Lost to Tim Henman (Great Britain) 6-7 3-6
Men's Doubles Competition Satoshi Iwabuchi and Takao Suzuki First round — Defeated Juan-Carlos Bianchi and Nicolas Pereira (Venezuela) 6-4, 6-7, 8-6 Second round — Lost to Sergi Bruguera and Tomás Carbonell (Spain) 7-6, 2-6, 5-7
Women's Singles Competition Ai Sugiyama