Japan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1912, Japanese athletes had appeared at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for two editions; they were not invited to the 1948 Summer Olympics in London because of the nation's role in World War II, and were also part of the United States-led boycott, when Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics.

As Tokyo was the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics, a Japanese segment was performed during the closing ceremony. The Olympic flag was handed to Yuriko Koike, the Governor of Tokyo from Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, who passed it to IOC President Thomas Bach before handed it to her. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was present in the ceremony, dressed as Nintendo's Mario character. He travelled underground from Tokyo to Rio using the tunnel that was created in animation by both Nintendo and the Japanese Olympic Committee.

Medalists

The following Japanese competitors won medals at the Games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.

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Medal Name Sport Event Date Swimming Men's 400 m individual medley Judo Men's 73 kg Kenzō ShiraiYūsuke TanakaKoji YamamuroKōhei UchimuraRyōhei Katō Gymnastics Men's artistic team all-around Judo Women's 70 kg Judo Men's 90 kg Gymnastics Men's artistic individual all-around Swimming Women's 200 m breaststroke Wrestling Women's freestyle 48 kg Wrestling Women's freestyle 58 kg Wrestling Women's freestyle 69 kg Badminton Women's doubles Wrestling Women's freestyle 63 kg Swimming Men's 200 m butterfly Swimming Men's 200 m individual medley Judo Men's +100 kg Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman 59 kg Jun MizutaniKoki NiwaMaharu Yoshimura Table tennis Men's team Wrestling Women's freestyle 53 kg Wrestling Men's freestyle 57 kg Athletics Men's 4 × 100 m relay Judo Women's 48 kg Judo Men's 60 kg Weightlifting Women's 48 kg Swimming Men's 400 m individual medley Judo Women's 52 kg Judo Men's 66 kg Judo Women's 57 kg Canoeing Men's slalom C-1 Judo Men's 81 kg Naito EharaYuki KoboriTakeshi Matsuda Swimming Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay Swimming Women's 200 m butterfly Judo Men's 100 kg Table tennis Men's singles Judo Women's +78 kg Tennis Men's singles Gymnastics Men's vault Yukiko InuiRisako Mitsui Synchronized swimming Women's duet Ai FukuharaKasumi IshikawaMima Ito Table tennis Women's team Badminton Women's singles Aika HakoyamaAiko HayashiYukiko InuiKei MarumoRisako MitsuiKanami NakamakiMai NakamuraKano OmataKurumi Yoshida Synchronized swimming Women's team Athletics Men's 50 km walk | style="text-align:left; width:22%; vertical-align:top;"|

Medals by sportSport TotalWrestling 4 3 0 7Judo 3 1 8 12Swimming 2 2 3 7Gymnastics 2 0 1 3Badminton 1 0 1 2Table Tennis 0 1 2 3Athletics 0 1 1 2Synchronized swimming 0 0 2 2Canoeing 0 0 1 1Tennis 0 0 1 1Weightlifting 0 0 1 1Total 12 8 21 41

Medals by dayDay Total6 August 1 0 4 57 August 0 0 2 28 August 2 0 1 39 August 0 1 3 410 August 3 0 1 411 August 1 1 2 412 August 0 1 1 213 August 0 0 0 014 August 0 1 1 215 August 0 0 1 116 August 0 0 2 217 August 3 1 0 418 August 2 1 0 319 August 0 2 3 5Total 12 8 21 41

Competitors

| width=78% align=left valign=top | The following is the list of number of competitors participating in the Games. Note that reserves in fencing, field hockey, football, and handball are not counted as athletes: SportMenWomenTotalArchery 1 3 4Athletics 39 14 53Badminton 4 5 9Basketball 0 12 12Boxing 2 0 2Canoeing 4 1 5Cycling 8 2 10Diving 2 1 3Equestrian 7 3 10Fencing 3 3 6Field hockey 0 16 16Football 18 0 18Golf 2 2 4Gymnastics 7 12 19Judo 7 7 14Modern pentathlon 2 1 3Rowing 2 2 4Rugby sevens 12 12 24Sailing 5 6 11Shooting 5 3 8Swimming 18 18 36Synchronized swimming — 9 9Table tennis 3 3 6Taekwondo 0 1 1Tennis 3 3 6Triathlon 1 3 4Volleyball 0 12 12Water polo 13 0 13Weightlifting 3 4 7Wrestling 4 6 10 Total 174 164 338

Archery

Three Japanese archers qualified for the women's events after having secured a top eight finish in the team recurve at the 2015 World Archery Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. Another Japanese archer also qualified for the men's individual recurve by obtaining one of the eight Olympic places available from the same tournament.

AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankTakaharu FurukawaMen's individual6807W 7–1W 6–0W 7–3L 2–6Did not advanceYuki HayashiWomen's individual59159L 1–7Did not advanceKaori Kawanaka65010W 7–3L 0–6Did not advanceSaori Nagamine62139L 3–7Did not advanceYuki HayashiKaori KawanakaSaori NagamineWomen's team18629colspan=2 W 6–2L 1–5Did not advance

Athletics

Japanese athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event): The team was selected based on the results of the 2016 Japan Championships in Athletics, and once an athlete wins a medal in race walking and marathon, or attains the top eight position in track and field at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.

On 17 March 2016, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) had selected three runners each in both men's and women's marathon race, with Kayoko Fukushi remarkably going to her fourth consecutive Olympics. Forty-two further athletes (31 men and 11 women) were added to the nation's track and field roster for the Games, based on their performances achieved at the Japan Championships (24 to 26 June). Among them were sprinters Chisato Fukushima and Shota Iizuka, 2015 Worlds bronze medalist and three-time Olympic race walker Takayuki Tanii, and javelin thrower Ryohei Arai.

Track & road events Men AthleteEventHeatQuarterfinalSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankAsuka Cambridge100 mcolspan=2 10.132 Q10.177Did not advanceYoshihide Kiryūcolspan=2 10.234Did not advanceRyota Yamagatacolspan=2 10.202 Q10.055Did not advanceKenji Fujimitsu200 m20.866colspan=2 Did not advanceShota Iizuka20.494colspan=2 Did not advanceKei Takase20.716colspan=2 Did not advanceYuzo Kanemaru400 m48.388colspan=2 Did not advanceJulian Walsh46.376colspan=2 Did not advanceSho Kawamoto800 m1:49.414colspan=2 Did not advanceKota Murayama5000 m14:26.7222colspan=4 Did not advance10000 mcolspan=6 29:02.5130Suguru Osako5000 m13:31.4516colspan=4 Did not advance10000 mcolspan=6 27:51.9417Yuta Shitaracolspan=6 28:55.2329Wataru Yazawa110 m hurdles13.883colspan=2 Did not advanceYuki Matsushita400 m hurdles49.604colspan=2 Did not advanceKeisuke Nozawa48.621 Qcolspan=2 49.206Did not advanceKazuya Shiojiri3000 m steeplechase8:40.9811colspan=4 Did not advanceSuehiro IshikawaMarathoncolspan=6 2:17:0836Hisanori Kitajimacolspan=6 2:25:1194Satoru Sasakicolspan=6 2:13:5716Isamu Fujisawa20 km walkcolspan=6 1:22:0321Daisuke Matsunagacolspan=6 1:20:227Eiki Takahashicolspan=6 1:24:5942Hirooki Arai50 km walkcolspan=6 3:41:24Kōichirō Moriokacolspan=6 3:58:5926Takayuki Taniicolspan=6 3:51:0014Asuka CambridgeShota IizukaYoshihide KiryūRyota Yamagata4 × 100 m relay37.68 AS1 Qcolspan=4 37.60 ASNobuya KatoTakamasa KitagawaTomoya TamuraJulian Walsh4 × 400 m relay3:02.957colspan=4 Did not advance

Women AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankChisato Fukushima200 m23.215Did not advanceMisaki Onishi5000 m15:29.179colspan=2 Did not advanceAyuko Suzuki15:41.8112colspan=2 Did not advanceMiyuki Uehara15:23.417 qcolspan=2 15:34.9715Hanami Sekine10000 mcolspan=4 31:44.4420Yuka Takashimacolspan=4 31:36.4418Satomi Kubokura400 m hurdles57.345Did not advanceAnju Takamizawa3000 m steeplechase9:58.5917colspan=2 Did not advanceKayoko FukushiMarathoncolspan=4 2:29:5314Mai Itocolspan=4 2:37:3746Tomomi Tanakacolspan=4 2:31:1219Kumiko Okada20 km walkcolspan=4 1:32:4232

Field events Men AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionRyohei AraiJavelin throw84.164 Q79.4711Takashi EtoHigh jump2.17=35Did not advanceDaigo HasegawaTriple jump16.1729Did not advanceHiroki OgitaPole vault5.4521Did not advanceDaichi Sawano5.60=10 q5.50=7Seito Yamamoto—Did not advanceKohei YamashitaTriple jump15.7135Did not advance

Women AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionKonomi KaiLong jump5.8737Did not advanceYuki EbiharaJavelin throw57.6821Did not advance

Combined events – Men's decathlon AthleteEventFinalRankAkihiko Nakamura Result11.047.1312.001.9248.9314.5734.914.7051.244:18.37761222Points852845606731865902562819607823Keisuke Ushiro Result11.306.8314.141.9850.4315.0949.904.9066.634:46.33795220Points795774737785795839868880838641

Badminton

Japan has qualified a total of nine badminton players for each of the following events into the Olympic tournament based on the BWF World Rankings as of 5 May 2016: two entries in the women's singles, one in the men's singles, and a pair each in the men's, women's, and mixed doubles.

Men AthleteEventGroup StageEliminationQuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankSho SasakiSinglesL (15–21, 9–21)W (21–10, 16–21, 21–12)2Did not advanceHiroyuki EndoKenichi HayakawaDoublesW (21–17, 16–21, 21–14)W (21–18, 14–21, 23–21)L (21–23, 11–21)2 QL (19–21, 17–21)Did not advance

Women AthleteEventGroup StageEliminationQuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankNozomi OkuharaSinglesW (21–10, 21–8)W (21–12, 21–12)1 QW (21–6, 21–7)W (11–21, 21–17, 21–10)L (19–21, 10–21)W Akane YamaguchiW (20–22, 21–12, 21–15)W (21–18, 21–5)1 QW (21–19, 21–16)L (21–11, 17–21, 10–21)Did not advanceMisaki MatsutomoAyaka TakahashiDoublesW (21–9, 21–11)W (21–15, 21–10)W (21–15, 21–15)2 QW (21–16, 18–21, 21–9)W (21–16, 21–17)W (18–21, 21–9, 21–19)

Mixed AthleteEventGroup StageQuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankKenta KazunoAyane KuriharaDoublesL (23–25, 17–21)W (21–6, 21–12)W (21–14, 21–19)2 QL (14–21, 12–21)Did not advance

Basketball

Women's tournament

Japan women's basketball team qualified for the Olympics by winning the gold medal match over China and securing the lone outright berth at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championships.

Team roster

Group play

Quarterfinal

Boxing

Japan has entered two boxers to compete in each of the following classes into the Olympic boxing tournament. Daisuke Narimatsu had claimed his Olympic spot with a box-off victory in the men's lightweight division at the 2016 Asia & Oceania Qualification Tournament in Qian'an, China, while bantamweight boxer Arashi Morisaka secured an additional place on the Japanese roster with his quarterfinal triumph at the 2016 AIBA World Qualifying Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.

AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankArashi MorisakaMen's bantamweightL 1–2Did not advanceDaisuke NarimatsuMen's lightweightW 2–1L 0–3Did not advance

Canoeing

Slalom Japanese canoeists have qualified a maximum of one boat in each of the following classes through the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships and the 2016 Asian Championships.

AthleteEventPreliminarySemifinalFinalRun 1RankRun 2RankBestRankTimeRankTimeRankTakuya HanedaMen's C-198.69694.58494.585 Q98.846 Q97.44Shota SasakiTsubasa SasakiMen's C-2122.0410119.0410119.0412Did not advanceKazuki YazawaMen's K-192.23998.081692.2314 Q97.1911Did not advanceAki YazawaWomen's K-1120.1718128.0016120.1720Did not advance

Cycling

Road