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" |
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! 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 Kinoshita<br/>Yumiko Shige || Sailing || Women's 470 || August 1
|-
| || Masanori Sugiura<br/>Takayuki Takabayashi<br/>Yoshitomo Tani<br/>Hitoshi Ono<br/>Yasuyuki Saigo<br/>Tomoaki Sato<br/>Daishin Nakamura<br/>Masahiro Nojima<br/>Hideaki Okubo<br/>Koichi Misawa<br/>Masahiko Mori<br/>Masao Morinaka<br/>Takashi Kurosu<br/>Takao Kuwamoto<br/>Nobuhiko Matsunaka<br/>Takeo Kawamura<br/>Jutaro Kimura<br/>Kosuke Fukudome<br/>Tadahito Iguchi<br/>Makoto 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 Tanaka<br/>Miya Tachibana<br/>Kaori Takahashi<br/>Miho Takeda<br/>Miho Kawabe<br/>Akiko Kawase<br/>Riho Nakajima<br/>Raika Fujii<br/>Mayuko Fujiki<br/>Rei Jimbo || Synchronized swimming || Women's competition || August 2
|}
| width=22% align=left valign=top |
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:95%; float:right"
|-
!colspan=7|Medals by sport
|-align=center
|Sport
| bgcolor=f7f6a8 |
| bgcolor=dce5e5 |
| bgcolor=ffdab9 |
|Total
|-align=center
|Judo
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 3
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 4
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 1
|8
|-align=center
|Baseball
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 1
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 0
|1
|-align=center
|Sailing
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 1
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 0
|1
|-align=center
|Athletics
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 0
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 1
|1
|-align=center
|Cycling
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 0
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 1
|1
|-align=center
|Synchronized swimming
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 0
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 1
|1
|-align=center
|Wrestling
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 0
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 1
|1
|- align=center
! Total
!style="background:gold"| 3
!style="background:silver"| 6
!style="background:#c96"| 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
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|-
!rowspan=2|Athlete
!rowspan=2|Event
!colspan="2"|Ranking round
!Round of 64
!Round of 32
!Round of 16
!Quarterfinals
!Semifinals
!colspan="2"|Final /
|- style="font-size:95%"
!Score
!Seed
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Rank
|- align=center
|align=left|Takayoshi Matsushita
|align=left rowspan=2|Individual
|657
|25
|<br>W 163–162
|<br>L 156–157
|colspan=5|Did not advance
|- align=center
|align=left|Hiroshi Yamamoto
|665
|13
|<br>W 155–154
|<br>L 163–164
|colspan=5|Did not advance
|}
;Women
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|-
!rowspan=2|Athlete
!rowspan=2|Event
!colspan="2"|Ranking round
!Round of 64
!Round of 32
!Round of 16
!Quarterfinals
!Semifinals
!colspan="2"|Final /
|- style="font-size:95%"
!Score
!Seed
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Opposition<br />Score
!Rank
|- align=center
|align=left|Kinue Kodama
|align=left rowspan=3|Individual
|613
|52
|<br>W 159–147
|<br>L 151–155
|colspan=5|Did not advance
|- align=center
|align=left|Misato Koide
|583
|58
|<br>L 141–159
|colspan=6|Did not advance
|- align=center
|align=left|Ai Ouchi
|631
|43
|<br>L 152–152
|colspan=6|Did not advance
|- align=center
|align=left|Kinue Kodama<br>Misato Koide<br>Ai Ouchi
|align=left|Team
|1827
|14
|colspan=2
|<br>L 217–222
|colspan=4|Did not advance
|}
Athletics
;Men
;Track and road events
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Athlete
!rowspan="2"|Event
!colspan="2"|Heats
!colspan="2"|Quarterfinal
!colspan="2"|Semifinal
!colspan="2"|Final
|-style="font-size:95%"
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
|-align=center
|align=left|Nobuharu Asahara
|align=left rowspan=2|100 metres
|10.28
|18 Q
|10.19
|13 Q
|10.16
|10
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Hiroyasu Tsuchie
|10.58
|65
|colspan=6|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Koji Ito
|align=left rowspan=2|200 metres
|20.56
|11 Q
|20.47
|7 Q
|20.45
|10
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Takahiro Mazuka
|21.13
|59
|colspan=6|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Shigekazu Omori
|align=left|400 metres
|46.30
|34
|colspan=6|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Katsuhiko Hanada
|align=left rowspan=2|10,000 metres
|28:52.22
|27
|colspan=4
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Toshinari Takaoka
|28:38.18
|23
|colspan=4
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Kenjiro Jitsui
|align=left rowspan=3|Marathon
|colspan=6
|2:33:27
|93
|-align=center
|align=left|Masaki Oya
|colspan=6
|2:22:13
|54
|-align=center
|align=left|Hiromi Taniguchi
|colspan=6
|2:17:26
|19
|-align=center
|align=left|Shunji Karube
|align=left rowspan=3|400 metres hurdles
|48.96
|17
|colspan=2
|colspan=4|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Hideaki Kawamura
|49.88
|32
|colspan=2
|colspan=4|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Kazuhiko Yamazaki
|49.07
|19
|colspan=2
|colspan=4|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Hiroyasu Tsuchie<br>Koji Ito<br>Satoru Inoue<br>Nobuharu Asahara
|align=left|4 × 100 metres relay
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2
|colspan=4|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Shunji Karube<br>Koji Ito<br>Jun Osakada<br>Shigekazu Omori<br>Kenji Tabata*
|align=left|4 × 400 metres relay
|3:02.82
|9 Q
|colspan=2
|3:01.92
|6 Q
|3:00.76
|5
|-align=center
|align=left|Daisuke Ikeshima
|align=left|20 kilometres walk
|colspan=6
|1:24:54
|21
|-align=center
|align=left|Tadahiro Kosaka
|align=left|50 kilometres walk
|colspan=6
|4:05:57
|29
|}
;Field events
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Athlete
!rowspan="2"|Event
!colspan="2"|Qualification
!colspan="2"|Final
|-style="font-size:95%"
!Distance
!Position
!Distance
!Position
|-align=center
|align=left|Tomohiro Nomura
|align=left|High jump
|2.15
|27
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Teruyasu Yonekura
|align=left|Pole vault
|5.20
|30
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Nobuharu Asahara
|align=left|Long jump
|7.46
|36
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|}
;Women
;Track and road events
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Athlete
!rowspan="2"|Event
!colspan="2"|Heats
!colspan="2"|Quarterfinal
!colspan="2"|Semifinal
!colspan="2"|Final
|-style="font-size:95%"
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
|-align=center
|align=left|Harumi Hiroyama
|align=left rowspan=3|5000 metres
|15:50.43
|27
|colspan=4
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Yoshiko Ichikawa
|15:58.90
|34
|colspan=4
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Michiko Shimizu
|15:23.56
|12 Q
|colspan=4
|15:09.05
|4
|-align=center
|align=left|Masako Chiba
|align=left rowspan=3|10,000 metres
|31:37.03
|4 Q
|colspan=4
|31:20.62
|5
|-align=center
|align=left|Yuko Kawakami
|32:31.69
|17 Q
|colspan=4
|31:23.23
|7
|-align=center
|align=left|Hiromi Suzuki
|31:54.89
|7 Q
|colspan=4
|32:43.39
|16
|-align=center
|align=left|Yuko Arimori
|align=left rowspan=3|Marathon
|colspan=6
|2:28:39
|
|-align=center
|align=left|Junko Asari
|colspan=6
|2:34:31
|17
|-align=center
|align=left|Izumi Maki
|colspan=6
|2:32:35
|12
|-align=center
|align=left|Yvonne Kanazawa
|align=left|100 metres hurdles
|13.30
|35
|colspan=6|Did not advance
|-align=center
|align=left|Yuka Mitsumori
|align=left|10 kilometres walk
|colspan=6
|colspan=2|
|}
;Field events
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Athlete
!rowspan="2"|Event
!colspan="2"|Qualification
!colspan="2"|Final
|-style="font-size:95%"
!Distance
!Position
!Distance
!Position
|-align=center
|align=left|Akiko Miyajima
|align=left|Javelin throw
|53.98
|29
|colspan=2|Did 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
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
:* First round — Defeated Katarina Studenikova (Slovakia) 6-2 6-3
:* Second round — Defeated Martina Hingis (Switzerland) 6-4 6-4
:* Third round — Lost to Jana Novotná (Czech Republic) 3-6 4-6
- Kimiko Date
:* First round — Defeated Dally Randriantefy (Madagascar) 6-0 6-1
:* Second round — Defeated Virag Csurgo (Hungary) 6-2 6-3
:* Third round — Defeated Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) 6-4 6-4
:* Quarter Finals — Lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (Spain) 6-4 3-6 8-10
- Naoko Sawamatsu
:* First round — Defeated Sung-Hee Park (South Korea) 6-3 4-6 6-3
:* Second round — Lost to Lindsay Davenport (United States) 2-6 2-6
Volleyball
Women's Indoor Team Competition
- Preliminary round (group A)
:* Lost to South Korea (0-3)
:* Defeated Ukraine (3-0)
:* Lost to Netherlands (0-3)
:* Lost to United States (0-3)
:* Lost to China (0-3)
- Quarterfinals
:* did not advance (→ Ninth place)
- Team roster
:*Kaiyo Hoshini
:*Aki Nagatomi
:*Kazumi Nakamura
:*Chieko Nakanishi
:*Motoko Ohbayashi
:*Ikumi Ogake
:*Mika Saiki
:*Kiyomi Sakamoto
:*Asako Tajimi
:*Chiho Torii
:*Mika Yamauchi
:*Tomoko Yoshihara
- Head coach: Kuniaki Yoshida