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Today, we’re diving into the cast of Netflix’s Japanese romantic drama First Love.

Inspired by the music of Hikaru Utada, the nine-episode series follows Yae Noguchi and Harumichi Namiki, two former high-school sweethearts whose lives take very different paths before fate brings them together again years later.

Here’s your guide to the First Love cast, including their ages, heights, Instagram accounts, notable movies and TV shows, and some surprisingly fun facts about the actors behind the characters.

Profiles and ages updated as of September, 2026.

NetflixFirst Love Cast: Profiles & Surprising Facts

Yae Noguchi — Hikari Mitsushima

A taxi driver whose dream of becoming a flight attendant was lost.

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Surprising Facts About Hikari Mitsushima

• Mitsushima made her entertainment debut in 1997 at just 11 years old as a member of the music group Folder.
• She later performed in Folder5 under the name “HIKARI,” and the group sang “Believe,” one of the theme songs for the anime One Piece.
• Her major breakthrough as an actress came with Sion Sono’s film Love Exposure, where her intense performance earned her multiple acting awards.
• Her younger brothers are actor Shinnosuke Mitsushima and former professional basketball player Kotaro Mitsushima, while her sister Minami Mitsushima works as a model.
• For First Love, Mitsushima took part in acting workshops with younger cast members including Rikako Yagi and Taisei Kido.
• Mitsushima was reportedly the one who suggested Takeru Satoh for the role of Harumichi, naming him as someone she wanted opposite her in an adult love story.
• In March 2026, Mitsushima announced her marriage to model Keisuke Asano, who is eight years younger than her. She welcomed her first child in early summer that same year.

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Harumichi Namiki — Takeru Satoh

Yae’s first love, a former Air Self-Defense Force pilot turned security guard.

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Surprising Facts About Takeru Satoh

• Satoh was scouted in Harajuku during his second year of high school, on what was reportedly his first visit there.
• During high school, he was obsessed with breakdancing and practiced so late into the night that he sometimes fell asleep during class.
• He became a breakout star through Kamen Rider Den-O, where he played a protagonist whose personality changed depending on which character possessed him.
• In the Rurouni Kenshin films, Satoh performed many of the series’ high-speed action sequences himself, becoming especially well known for his physical ability.
• He is a huge puzzle and mystery-solving fan, to the point of hosting his own programs and events featuring professional puzzle creators.
• In 2021, Satoh left Amuse and began working through the new company Co-LaVo alongside Ryunosuke Kamiki.
• Director Yuri Kanchiku had known Satoh since his teenage years, making First Love a long-awaited reunion between the two.

Young Yae Noguchi — Rikako Yagi

A high-school girl dreaming of becoming a flight attendant when she falls for Harumichi.

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八木莉可子(@rikakoyagi_official)がシェアした投稿

Surprising Facts About Rikako Yagi

• In 2015, Yagi won the Grand Prix in a modeling audition entered by 7,851 people.
• The following year, she was chosen as a Pocari Sweat brand character, attracting attention in a large-scale commercial featuring synchronized dancing.
• Yagi served as student council president in middle school, and reportedly performed the traditional Soran Bushi dance during her Pocari Sweat audition.
• In her kindergarten graduation book, she wrote that she wanted to become a model, and at the time the person she admired most was TV personality IKKO.
• Her university thesis focused on “Modern Society as Seen Through Spider-Man,” and reportedly ran to around 30,000–40,000 Japanese characters.
• Yagi won the role of young Yae through an audition for First Love. She and Taisei Kido became so close during the production that they began referring to each other as “comrades.”
• During filming, Yagi and Kido often listened to Hikaru Utada’s songs together, repeatedly using the music to reconnect with their characters’ emotions.

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Young Harumichi Namiki — Taisei Kido

A devoted student who loves Yae while dreaming of becoming a military pilot.

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木戸大聖(Kido Taisei)(@taisei_kido_)がシェアした投稿

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Surprising Facts About Taisei Kido

• Kido repeatedly sent applications to talent agencies while trying to enter show business, but it reportedly took around two years before he was finally signed.
• From 2018, he spent about three years appearing as “Taisei-kun” on the NHK BS children’s program Otosan to Issho.
• At the program’s audition, he performed not only acting scenes but also children’s songs, ultimately winning the role.
• Kido also won his role as young Harumichi through an audition for First Love, and the series dramatically raised his public profile.
• For the role, he closely studied Takeru Satoh’s mannerisms, even matching details such as how Harumichi holds a cigarette and positions his fingers.
• Because Harumichi dreams of joining the Air Self-Defense Force, Kido worked on physical conditioning, posture and military-style movement as part of his preparation.
• Some of his kissing scenes with Rikako Yagi were filmed out of chronological order, with scenes from later in the relationship shot before their more innocent early moments.

Tsunemi — Kaho

Harumichi’s counselor-turned-girlfriend, caught between love and his lingering first love.

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Surprising Facts About Kaho

• Kaho entered show business after being scouted in Harajuku and Omotesando while in fifth grade.
• In 2004, she became the 11th Mitsui Rehouse Girl, following actresses including Rie Miyazawa and Yu Aoi.
• Her first starring film, A Gentle Breeze in the Village, earned her multiple newcomer prizes, including recognition at the Japan Academy Film Prize.
• In Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Our Little Sister, she played the third of four sisters and received an Outstanding Supporting Actress award.
• Kaho actually has a fraternal twin brother, making her the older of the two.
• After being known early in her career for a fresh, wholesome image, she deliberately expanded into stranger, darker and more unconventional characters.
• The First Love production team has emphasized that Tsunemi was not simply an obstacle in Harumichi and Yae’s romance—there was genuine love between Harumichi and Tsunemi as well.

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Yu Namiki — Minami

Harumichi’s sister, who quietly helps bring him and Yae back together.

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Surprising Facts About Minami

• Minami was born to a French father and Japanese mother, growing up surrounded by both Japanese and French culture.
• At around 14, she appeared in Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale, marking the beginning of her acting career.
• In 2014, she was selected for the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Overseas Study Program for Emerging Artists and spent about a year studying theater in Paris.
• She has continued working internationally, moving between Japan, France and the United States.
• In Minamata, Minami appeared opposite Johnny Depp, giving her a role in a major international production.
• Outside acting, she also creates paintings, collages and jewelry, continuing to explore different forms of artistic expression.
• Minami publicly announced her marriage in 2020 and revealed the birth of her first child, Toki Félix, in November 2025.

Bonji — Akiyoshi Nakao

Harumichi’s longtime best friend and Yu’s cheerful husband.

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AKIYOSHI NAKAO 中尾 明慶(@akiyoshi0630nakao)がシェアした投稿

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Surprising Facts About Akiyoshi Nakao

• Nakao attended an acting school from childhood and made his child-actor debut in the 2000 drama Mama Masshigura!.
• Roles in Kinpachi-sensei and WATER BOYS2 helped establish him as a recognizable young actor.
• His given name 明慶 is pronounced “Akiyoshi,” and he has joked that people often struggle to read it correctly when meeting him for the first time.
• In 2013, Nakao married actress Riisa Naka, and the couple welcomed their son later that year.
• The two first worked together in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, before growing closer after filming the drama Tsurukame Josanin.
• Riisa Naka’s nickname for him is “Mr. Fox,” a name Nakao later incorporated into his own YouTube branding.
• He is a serious car and motorcycle enthusiast, regularly sharing vehicle purchases, customizations and touring videos on YouTube.

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Tsuzuru — Towa Araki

Yae’s music-loving son who experiences a first love of his own.

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荒木飛羽(@towa_araki_)がシェアした投稿

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Surprising Facts About Towa Araki

• Araki was scouted in second grade while returning home from a children’s fashion show.
• He attracted attention by playing younger versions of several popular actors, including Kento Yamazaki, Masataka Kubota and Ryota Katayose.
• Since childhood, Araki has been a major fan of the Disney character Duffy, who he says remains important to him even now.
• He loves listening to music and has encouraged students to save playlists of their favorite songs from different stages of their lives.
• Many of the younger performers in First Love were chosen through auditions, and Araki was one of them.
• Although Tsuzuru is Yae’s son, his storyline also gives him a first-love story of his own, separate from his parents’ romance.
• Araki later landed his first lead role in a serialized drama with Smells Like Green Spirit, playing a sensitive high-school student.

Uta Komori — Aoi Yamada

A free-spirited dancer who becomes Tsuzuru’s first love.

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Surprising Facts About Aoi Yamada

• Yamada began dancing at age six and moved her base of activities to Tokyo when she was 15.
• At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics closing ceremony, she performed a solo piece during the memorial segment.
• During the pandemic, she gained attention for her wonderfully strange “vegetable dances,” performing alongside vegetables in imaginative videos.
• Her involvement in First Love began through a chef she happened to know in common with Hikari Mitsushima.
• When Mitsushima was searching for “a girl who could dance,” the chef reportedly introduced Yamada, who was living with them at the time.
• In Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Yamada played Aya, the woman Takashi—played by Tokio Emoto—has feelings for.
• Yamada is married, and she has said that she met her husband at driving school. One of her everyday pleasures is still making lunch boxes for him.

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Ohtaro — Gaku Hamada

Yae’s kindhearted coworker who quietly carries feelings for her.

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Surprising Facts About Gaku Hamada

• Hamada was scouted at age nine and made his child-actor debut in the 1998 drama Hitoribocchi no Kimi ni.
• He temporarily stepped away from acting to focus on rugby, which is still listed among his skills on his official profile.
• His appearance in Kinpachi-sensei convinced him to pursue acting more seriously.
• Hamada has appeared in several films based on novels by Kotaro Isaka and directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura. The character Kill-O in Golden Slumber was reportedly written with Hamada in mind.
• His hobbies include fishing, golf and surfing, and his love of fishing eventually helped land him the lead role in Tsuribaka Nisshi.
• In 2011, Hamada married model Miyuki Koizumi, who is nine years older than him. Their 19-centimeter height difference also attracted attention in Japanese media.
• His First Love character Ohtaro was reportedly written with Hamada in mind from the early stages of script development.

Final Thoughts on the First Love Cast

And there you have it!

From acclaimed stars like Hikari Mitsushima and Takeru Satoh to breakout young actors such as Rikako Yagi and Taisei Kido, First Love brings together a cast from very different generations of Japanese entertainment.

Knowing a little about the actors behind Yae, Harumichi and the people surrounding them makes the intertwined love stories of First Love even more interesting to revisit.

Thanks for reading!

If another face in the series caught your attention, check out their movies and TV shows—you may be surprised by just how many familiar Japanese films and dramas this cast has appeared in.