In the past few years, Netflix has built out its slate of Japanese TV shows, from the death-game thriller Alice in Borderland to its groundbreaking gay dating show The Boyfriend. Now, Netflix Japan is courting Physical: 100 fans with Final Draft, the streaming giant's first-ever Japanese survival show.
The new physical competition show recruits 25 former athletes, who walked away from their careers and are looking for another chance at glory and security. Over several days, the contestants compete in strength, agility, perseverance, and stamina games that range from climbing an icy mountain to the ultimate monkey bars challenge. The last one left standing will walk away with a grand prize of 30 million yen (about $204,000) to support their families and the next stage of their careers.
For the must-watch reality series, producers gathered a range of athletes, including sports legends wanting to prove they still have it, underdogs hoping to amplify their lesser-known sports, and players whose careers were cut short. Below, read on to meet the athletic phenoms in the cast of Final Draft.
Akira Kaji
Akira Kaji, 44, is a former professional soccer player and member of Japan's national soccer team.
Atsushi Arai
Atsushi Arai, 31, was a member of Japan's national water polo team for 10 years. He competed in both the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and later won a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. He says that he wants "more people to know how strong water polo players actually are."
Final Draft is his second appearance on Netflix; he was previously a contestant on the Japanese dating show Offline Love.
Instagram: @a2desu
Eri Tosaka
Eri Tosaka, 31, is an Olympic wrestler who won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games. She retired from wrestling in 2022, a year after welcoming her first child, a baby boy. On Final Draft, she says that she wanted to show how strong both wrestlers and mothers could be.
Instagram: @eri_tosaka
Goson Sakai
Goson Sakai, 29, is a former professional soccer player of Japanese and German heritage. He comes from an athletic family, as his brothers Gōtoku and Noriyoshi Sakai are also footballers. He now owns a coffee shop and makes a third of what he used to as a soccer player.
Instagram: @__g.sakai__
Hozumi Hasegawa
Hozumi Hasegawa, 44, is a former champion boxer who has won world titles in three different weight classes. He retired in 2016 with a 36-5 record, and he received the MVP award from the Japan Boxing Commission four times. The standout competitor is idolized by some of his younger competitors in Final Draft.
Instagram: @hozumi_hasegawa
Kaho Mita
Kaho Mita, 28, is a former gymnast and trampoline athlete who now competes in bodybuilding.
Instagram: @kaho_fitness
Katsuma Yonemura
Katsuma Yonemura, 29, is a former professional judo athlete who's currently working as a barber. He says on Final Draft that he's saving money to open his own barber shop.
Kazuhiro Goya
Kazuhiro Goya, 32, is a former professional rugby sevens player who represented Japan on the national team at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. He says on Final Draft that he wants to use the prize money to buy a bigger house for his family, which consists of him, his wife, and his young daughter. In March 2025, he and his wife welcomed their second child, a baby boy.
Instagram: @kazuhiro_goya
Kenta Tsukamoto
Kenta Tsukamoto, 29, is a competitive bodybuilder and model who runs his own YouTube channel. He played rugby as a kid until he had to retire due to a brain condition. In his Final Draft intro, he mentions that he's probably the most "hungry" for the prize money, since you can't earn a lot from bodybuilding in Japan. He also says that his goal is to open a gym.
Instagram: @tsukaken_fitness
Koji Tokuda
Koji Tokuda, 36, is a former American football player (who was a former teammate of fellow competitor Kurihara) and a former comedian. He made his TV debut as a professional comedian and member of the comedy duo Brilliant in 2016. Now, he says that he joined Final Draft to show he hasn't lost his athletic abilities.
Kouzi
Kouzi, full name Koji Tanaka, stands out as one of the only active athletes competing in Final Draft, according to the show. The martial arts fighter has competed in kickboxing, MMA, and exhibition boxing throughout his career.
Instagram: @1_kouzi
Masato Yano
Masato Yano, 31, is an athlete and YouTuber who does "street workout," a gymnastics/calisthenics hybrid that is popular on Instagram and TikTok.
Instagram: @masato_antigravity
Masayuki Shimokawa
Masayuki Shimokawa, 36, is a former professional athlete who played kabaddi, a contact team sport that originated in India. He says on Final Draft, "I'm here to show everyone just how incredible the sport truly is."
Instagram: @shimo_kabaddi
Naoto Hayasaka
Naoto Hayasaka, 29, is a former member of Japan's national gymnastics team who won gold at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow.
Instagram: @naoto.hayasaka
Ryosuke Miyaguni
Ryosuke Miyaguni, 33, is a former pro baseball player who now works in real estate after retiring in 2023. He also runs a TikTok with other baseball players.
Instagram: ryosuke.miyaguni
Ryudai Onikura
Ryudai Onikura, 30, is a former amateur boxer who retired after losing the final match in the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. In 2021, he began acting. He's since appeared in over a dozen Japanese dramas, including Teppachi! and The Diamond Sleeping in the Sea.
Instagram: @onikura_ryudai
Sari Baba
Sari Baba, 31, is a former professional tennis player who began training at just 5-years-old.
Takashi Kurihara
Takashi Kurihara, 37, is a former member of Japan's national American football team, who also played at both the collegiate (Hosei University Tomahawks) and professional (Japan's X League) levels. In 2015, he was considered "the Japanese man who was the closest to becoming an NFL player," according to The Japan Times. (To this day, no Japan-born man has played in the NFL).
He now works as a high-performance fitness coach and lives between Japan and Hawaii.
Instagram: @iam_tk_81
Tomoe Tamura
Tomoe Tamura, 35, is a former member of Japan's national ultimate frisbee team, who joined Final Draft to show that people shouldn't underestimate the sport. She now works as a personal trainer.
Instagram: @t0m0e_tamura_13
Yoshio Itoi
Yoshio Itoi, 44, is a legendary baseball player and athlete known by his nickname "Superhuman." He was a nine-time all-star in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, where he played as a pitcher for 18 years before retiring in 2022. He also won multiple accolades, including receiving the Best Nine Award—awarded to the top player at each position—five times.
Instagram: @itoiyoshio_7
Yoshito Okubo
Yoshito Okubo, 42, is a famous former member of Japan's national soccer team. He's known as the first J-League player to lead the league in scoring for three consecutive seasons, per Netflix. To prepare for Final Draft, he resumed intense training and lost 12.4 kg (27 lb), which he described as "harder than anything" he did during his professional career.
Instagram: @yoshito13
Yosuke Kashiwagi
Yosuke Kashiwagi, 37, is a former member of Japan's national soccer team, who retired in 2023 after 13 years as a pro.
Yu Kato
Yu Kato, 29, is a former professional basketball player who played in Japan's Women's Baseball League. She's passionate about inspiring young girls to play baseball, and she joined Final Match determined to prove that she could beat the male players. Since her retirement, she has started a YouTube channel for her music.
Instagram: @y_k_009
Yujo Kitagata
Yujo Kitagata, 31, is a former baseball player on a redemption arc. While he was drafted as the first pick overall, he was eventually released from the major league twice without ever pitching. He says that if he wins, he wants to use the money to "provide better training for young athletes and ultimately make these kids' dreams come true."
Yuya Shozui
Yuya Shozui, 29, is a former professional baseball player who says on the show that he was "forced to retire" before he could prove himself. After he was cut from his former team in 2023, he worked as a part-time mover to support his family.
Instagram: @yuya.shozui
