Japan competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 255 competitors, 186 men and 69 women, took part in 166 events in 23 sports.
Medalists
| width=78% align=left valign=top | Medal Name Sport Event Date Daichi Suzuki Swimming Men's 100 m backstroke September 24 Takashi Kobayashi Wrestling Men's freestyle light flyweight September 29 Mitsuru Sato Wrestling Men's freestyle flyweight September 30 Hitoshi Saito Judo Men's heavyweight October 1 Tomoko Hasegawa Shooting Women's 25 m pistol September 19 Atsuji Miyahara Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman flyweight September 21 Akira Ota Wrestling Men's freestyle light heavyweight September 29 Hiroyuki KonishiTakahiro YamadaToshiharu SatoDaisuke NishikawaKoichi MizushimaYukio Iketani Gymnastics Men's team all-around September 20 Yukio Iketani Gymnastics Men's floor September 24 Shinji Hosokawa Judo Men's extra lightweight September 25 Yosuke Yamamoto Judo Men's half lightweight September 26 Akinobu Osako Judo Men's middleweight September 29 Mikako Kotani Synchronized swimming Women's solo September 30 Miyako TanakaMikako Kotani Synchronized swimming Women's duet October 1
| width=22% align=left valign=top | Medals by sportSport TotalWrestling 2 2 04Judo 1 0 34Swimming 1 0 01Shooting 0 1 01Gymnastics 0 0 22Synchronized swimming 0 0 22 Total 4 3 7 14
Competitors The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics SportMenWomenTotalArchery 3 3 6Athletics 24 6 30Boxing 7 – 7Canoeing 6 2 8Cycling 9 3 12Diving 2 2 4Equestrian 8 2 10Fencing 5 5 10Gymnastics 6 8 14Handball 15 0 15Judo 7 – 7Modern pentathlon 3 – 3Rowing 12 0 12Sailing 11 2 13Shooting 9 5 14Swimming 12 11 23Synchronized swimming – 3 3Table tennis 4 3 7Tennis 2 2 4Volleyball 12 12 24Weightlifting 10 – 10Wrestling 20 – 20 Total 186 69 255
Archery
In their fourth Olympic archery competition, Japan was unable to win any medals. Defending bronze medallist Hiroshi Yamamoto placed eighth, the only individual archer to make the finals. The men's team placed sixth overall, while the women's team was last place.
Women's Individual Competition: Toyoka Oki — Preliminary round (→ 31st place) Keiko Nakagomi — Preliminary round (→ 52nd place) Kyoko Kitahara — Preliminary round (→ 53rd place)
Men's Individual Competition: Hiroshi Yamamoto — Final (→ 8th place) Takayoshi Matsushita — Quarterfinal (→ 14th place) Terushi Furuhashi — Preliminary round (→ 40th place)
Women's Team Competition: Oki, Nakagomi, and Kitahara — Preliminary round (→ 15th place)
Men's Team Competition: Yamamoto, Matsushita, and Furuhashi — Final (→ 6th place)
Athletics
Men's 100 metres Koji Kurihara Takahiko Kasahara Tomohiro Osawa
Men's 200 metres Kenji Yamauchi
Men's 400 metres Susumu Takano
Men's 5,000 metres Shuichi Yoneshige
Men's 10,000 metres Kozu Akutsu Heat — 28:16.43 Final — 28:09.70 (→ 14th place)
Shuichi Yoneshige Heat — 28:26.04 Final — 29:04.44 (→ 17th place)
Tsukasa Endo Heat — did not finish (→ did not advance)
Men's Marathon Takeyuki Nakayama Final — 2:11:05 (→ 4th place)
Toshihiko Seko Final — 2:13:41 (→ 9th place)
Hisatoshi Shintaku Final — 2:15:42 (→ 17th place)
Men's 4 × 100 m Relay Kaoru Matsubara, Shinji Aoto, Koji Kurihara, and Takahiro Kasahara Heat — 39.70 Shinji Aoto, Kenji Yamauchi, Koji Kurihara, and Susumu Takano Semi Final — 38.90 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 400 m Relay Hirofumi Koike, Kenji Yamauchi, Hiromi Kawasumi, and Susumu Takano Heat — 3:05.63 Semi Final — 3:03.80 (→ did not advance)
Men's Long Jump Hiroyuki Shibata Qualification — 7.48m (→ did not advance)
Junichi Usui Qualification — NM (→ did not advance)
Men's Triple Jump Norifumi Yamashita
Men's Javelin Throw Kazuhiro Mizoguchi Qualification — 77.46m (→ did not advance)
Masami Yoshida Qualification — 76.90m (→ did not advance)
Men's 20 km Walk Hirofumi Sakai Final — 1:24:08 (→ 26th place)
Tadahiro Kosaka Final — 1:32:46 (→ 47th place)
Men's 50 km Walk Tadahiro Kosaka Final — 4'03:12 (→ 31st place)
Women's 10,000 metres Akemi Matsuno
Women's Marathon Eriko Asai Final — 2:34:41 (→ 25th place)
Kumi Araki Final — 2:35:15 (→ 28th place)
Misako Miyahara Final — 2:35:26 (→ 29th place)
Women's High Jump Megumi Sato
Women's Javelin Throw Emi Matsui Qualification — 56.26m (→ did not advance)
Boxing
Men's Light Flyweight (– 48 kg) Mamoru Kuroiwa First Round — Lost to Ochiryn Demberel (MGL), KO-3
Canoeing
Cycling
Twelve cyclists, nine men and three women, represented Japan in 1988.
Men's road race Mitsuhiro Suzuki Kyoshi Miura Yoshihiro Tsumuraya
Men's sprint Hideki Miwa
Men's 1 km time trial Hiroshi Toyooka
Men's team pursuit Koichi Azuma Fumiharu Miyamoto Kazuaki Sasaki Kazuo Takikawa
Men's points race Yoshihiro Tsumuraya
Women's road race Terumi Ogura — 2:00:52 (→ 30th place) Natsue Seki — 2:14:32 (→ 50th place)
Women's sprint Seiko Hashimoto
Diving
Men AthleteEventPreliminaryFinalPointsRankPointsRankKeita Kaneto3 m springboard577.5010 Q562.0511Isao Yamagishi540.7218Did not advanceKeita Kaneto10 m platform497.0414Did not advanceIsao Yamagishi517.8012 Q500.7010
Women AthleteEventPreliminaryFinalPointsRankPointsRankYuki Motobuchi3 m springboard404.7615Did not advanceMasako Asada380.9421Did not advanceYuki Motobuchi10 m platform333.4516Did not advanceMasako Asada327.9317Did not advance
Equestrianism
Fencing
Ten fencers, five men and five women, represented Japan in 1988.
Men's foil Koji Emura Kenichi Umezawa Yoshihiko Kanatsu
Men's team foil Matsuo Azuma, Harunobu Deno, Koji Emura, Yoshihiko Kanatsu, Kenichi Umezawa
Women's foil Tomoko Oka Akemi Morikawa Mieko Miyahara
Women's team foil Nona Kiritani, Keiko Mine, Mieko Miyahara, Akemi Morikawa, Tomoko Oka
Gymnastics
Handball
Men's team competition Preliminary round (group B) vs East Germany (18 — 25) vs Spain (19 — 25) vs Hungary (19 — 22) vs South Korea (24 — 33) vs Czechoslovakia (17 — 21) Classification Match 11th/12th place: vs United States 24 — 21 (→ 11th place)
Team roster Hidetada Ito Hiroshi Yanai Izumi Fujii Kazuhiro Miyashita Kenji Tamamura Kiyoshi Nishiyama Kodo Yamamoto Koji Tachiki Seiichi Takamura Shinichi Shudo Shinji Okuda Takashi Taguchi Toshiyuki Yamamura Yoshihiro Nikawadori Yukihiro Hashimoto
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented Japan in 1988.
Men's Individual Competition: Hiroshi Saito — 4881pts (→ 30th place) Tadafumi Miwa — 4517pts (→ 51st place) Hiroaki Izumikawa — 3722pts (→ 63rd place)
Men's Team Competition: Saito, Miwa, and Izumikawa — 13120pts (→ 17th place)
Rhythmic gymnastics
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Men's 100 m Freestyle Shigeo Ogata Heat — 52.08 (→ did not advance, 32nd place)
Men's 200 m Freestyle Shigeo Ogata Heat — 1:51.14 B-Final — 1:51.89 (→ 15th place)
Men's 400 m Freestyle Yoshiyuki Mizumoto Heat — 4:02.02 (→ did not advance, 32nd place)
Shigeo Ogata Heat — 4:05.68 (→ did not advance, 38th place)
Men's 1500 m Freestyle Masashi Kato Heat — 15:47.35 (→ did not advance, 25th place)
Yoshiyuki Mizumoto Heat — 15:52.06 (→ did not advance, 27th place)
Men's 100 m Backstroke Daichi Suzuki Heat — 55.90 Final — 55.05 (→ Gold Medal)
Shigemori Maruyama Heat — 57.54 B-Final — 57.13 (→ 12th place)
Men's 200 m Backstroke Daichi Suzuki Heat — 2:03.36 B-Final — 2:04.67 (→ 15th place)
Shigemori Maruyama Heat — 2:09.16 (→ did not advance, 32nd place)
Men's 100 m Breaststroke Hironobu Nagahata Heat — 1:04.02 B-Final — 1:03.89 (→ 13th place)
Kenji Watanabe Heat — 1:04.35 (→ did not advance, 18th place)
Men's 200 m Breaststroke Shigehiro Takahashi Heat — 2:17.69 B-Final — 2:18.03 (→ 10th place)
Hironobu Nagahata Heat — 2:22.23 (→ did not advance, 30th place)
Men's 100 m Butterfly Hiroshi Miura Heat — 54.82 B-Final — 54.98 (→ 14th place)
Yukinori Tanaka Heat — 56.19 (→ did not advance, 24th place)
Men's 200 m Butterfly Satoshi Takeda Heat — 2:01.42 B-Final — 2:02.18 (→ 15th place)
Hiroshi Miura Heat — 2:02.30 (→ did not advance, 19th place)
Men's 200 m Individual Medley Takahiro Fujimoto Heat — 2:07.23 (→ did not advance, 19th place)
Satoshi Takeda Heat — 2:08.11 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)
Men's 400 m Individual Medley Yoshiyuki Mizumoto Heat — 4:28.11 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
Takahiro Fujimoto Heat — 4:33.03 (→ did not advance, 25th place)
Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay Daichi Suzuki, Hironobu Nagahata, Hiroshi Miura, and Shigeo Ogata Heat — 3:46.88 Final — 3:44.36 (→ 5th place)
Women's 50 m Freestyle Ayako Nakano Heat — 26.44 B-Final — 26.45 (→ 12th place)
Kaori Sasaki Heat — 26.61 (→ did not advance, 20th place)
Women's 100 m Freestyle Ayako Nakano Heat — 57.29 B-Final — 56.72 (→ 10th place)
Kaori Sasaki Heat — 58.40 (→ did not advance, 32nd place)
Women's 200 m Freestyle Chikako Nakamori Heat — 2:01.76 B-Final — 2:02.31 (→ 14th place)
Kaori Sasaki Heat — 2:06.18 (→ did not advance, 29th place)
Women's 400 m Freestyle Chikako Nakamori Heat — 4:15.51 B-Final — 4:15.59 (→ 15th place)
Tomomi Hosoda Heat — 4:17.30 (→ did not advance, 19th place)
Women's 800 m Freestyle Tomomi Hosoda Heat — 8:39.55 (→ did not advance, 11th place)
Women's 100 m Backstroke Satoko Morishita Heat — 1:05.38 (→ did not advance, 24th place)
Tomoko Onogi Heat — 1:06.14 (→ did not advance, 26th place)
Women's 200 m Backstroke Satoko Morishita Heat — 2:18.74 B-Final — 2:18.78 (→ 14th place)
Tomoko Onogi Heat — 2:21.46 (→ did not advance, 20th place)
Women's 100 m Breaststroke Yoshie Nishioka Heat — 1:13.36 (→ did not advance, 25th place)
Hiroko Nagasaki Heat — 1:16.63 (→ did not advance, 34th place)
Women's 200 m Breaststroke Yoshie Nishioka Heat — 2:35.81 (→ did not advance, 19th place)
Hiroko Nagasaki Heat — 2:37.44 (→ did not advance, 23rd place)
Women's 100 m Butterfly Kiyomi Takahashi Heat — 1:02.04 B-Final — 1:01.80 (→ 10th place)
Takayo Kitano Heat — 1:02.35 B-Final — 1:02.53 (→ 14th place)
Women's 200 m Butterfly Kiyomi Takahashi Heat — 2:12.68 Final — 2:11.62 (→ 6th place)
Takayo Kitano Heat — 2:15.41 B-Final — 2:15.61 (→ 14th place)
Women's 200 m Individual Medley Yoshie Nishioka Heat — 2:20.20 B-Final — 2:20.43 (→ 16th place)
Hiroyo Harada Heat — 2:22.59 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)
Women's 400 m Individual Medley Yoshie Nishioka Heat — 4:55.31 (→ did not advance, 19th place)
Hiroyo Harada Heat — 5:00.92 (→ did not advance, 23rd place)
Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay Satoko Morishita, Yoshie Nishioka, Kiyomi Takahashi, and Ayako Nakano Heat — 4:18.88 (→ did not advance, 12th place)
Synchronized swimming
Three synchronized swimmers represented Japan in 1988.
Women's solo Mikako Kotani Megumi Itō Miyako Tanaka
Women's duet Mikako Kotani Miyako Tanaka
Table tennis
Tennis
Women's Singles Competition Kumiko Okamoto First Round — Lost to Catarina Lindqvist (Sweden) 6-7, 5-7
Etsuko Inoue First Round — Lost to Il-Soon Kim (South Korea) 3-6, 6-3, 5-7
Volleyball
Men's team competition Preliminary round (group B) Lost to United States (0-3) Lost to Argentina (1-3) Lost to France (1-3) Defeated Tunisia (3-0) Lost to the Netherlands (0-3) Classification Matches 9th/12th place: Defeated South Korea (3-2) 9th/10th place: Lost to Italy (2-3) → Tenth place
Team roster Akihiro Iwashima Yasunori Kumada Eizaburo Mitsuhashi Masayoshi Manabe Yuji Kasama Kazutomo Yoneyama Hiromichi Kageyama Hideharu Hara Kimio Sugimoto Yuzuru Inoue Masaki Kaito Shunichi Kawai Head coach: Kazuya Mitake
Women's team competition Preliminary round (group A) Defeated Soviet Union (3-2) Lost to East Germany (2-3) Defeated South Korea (3-1) Semi Finals Lost to Peru (2-3) Final Lost to PR China (0-3) → Fourth place
Team roster Yumi Maruyama Kayoko Sugiyama Reiko Takizawa Miyako Yamashita Akemi Sugiyama Ichiko Sato Norie Hiro Kumi Nakada Yukari Kawase