| Noc: | JPN |
| Fedname: | Japanese University Sports Board (JUSB) |
| Games: | Universiade |
| Gold: | 473 |
| Silver: | 482 |
| Bronze: | 582 |
| Rank: | 5 |
| Summerappearances: | |
| Winterappearances: |
Japan has participated in all editions of the Summer and Winter World University Games held since the first edition in 1959 and 1960.[1] The nation is ranked 5th in the all-time medal table behind Russia, China, United States, and Soviet Union.[2] Japan has won 1,202 medals at the Summer World University Games and are in the fifth place on the all-time Summer World University medal table.[3] In the winter games, they have won 335 medals at the Winter Universiade and are in the third place on the all-time Winter Universiade medal table.[4]
| Edition | Rank | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Turin 1959 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | |
| Sofia 1961 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 2 | |
 Porto Alegre 1963 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 4 | |
 Budapest 1965 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | |
 Tokyo 1967 | 21 | 18 | 24 | 63 | 2 | |
| Turin 1970 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 15 | 5 | |
| Moscow 1973 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 4 | |
| Rome 1975 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| Sofia 1977 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 10 | |
 Mexico City 1979 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 12 | |
| Bucharest 1981 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | |
 Edmonton 1983 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 10 | |
| Kobe 1985 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 6 | |
| Zagreb 1987 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 13 | |
| Duisburg 1989 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 22 | |
 Sheffield 1991 | 5 | 15 | 8 | 28 | 6 | |
 Buffalo 1993 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 30 | 8 | |
| Fukuoka 1995 | 24 | 16 | 24 | 64 | 2 | |
| Sicily 1997 | 14 | 8 | 11 | 33 | 3 | |
 Palma de Mallorca 1999 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 40 | 4 | |
 Beijing 2001 | 14 | 14 | 25 | 53 | 3 | |
 Daegu 2003 | 13 | 13 | 21 | 47 | 5 | |
 Ízmir 2005 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 56 | 3 | |
 Bangkok 2007 | 19 | 15 | 22 | 56 | 4 | |
 Belgrade 2009 | 20 | 21 | 32 | 73 | 4 | |
| Shenzhen 2011 | 23 | 26 | 38 | 87 | 4 | |
 Kazan 2013 | 24 | 29 | 33 | 86 | 3 | |
| Gwangju 2015 | 25 | 25 | 35 | 85 | 4 | |
| Taipei 2017 | 37 | 26 | 37 | 100 | 1 | |
| Naples 2019 | 33 | 21 | 28 | 82 | 1 | |
| Chengdu 2021 | 21 | 29 | 43 | 93 | 2 | |
| Rhein-Rühr 2025 | Future event | |||||
| Chungcheong 2027 | Future event | |||||
| Total | 361 | 365 | 476 | 1202 | 5 | |
| Edition | Rank | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Chamonix 1960 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| Villars 1962 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | |
 Špindlerův Mlýn 1964 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | |
| Sestriere 1966 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 | |
 Innsbruck 1968 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 3 | |
 Rovaniemi 1970 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| Lake Placid 1972 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 5 | |
| Livigno 1975 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| Špindlerův Mlýn 1978 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| Jaca 1981 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | |
| Sofia 1983 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| Belluno 1985 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| Štrbské Pleso 1987 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| Sofia 1989 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 | |
| Sapporo 1991 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 30 | 1 | |
 Zakopane 1993 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 1 | |
| Jaca 1995 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 5 | |
| Muju-Jeonju 1997 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 25 | 1 | |
 Poprad Tatry 1999 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 4 | |
| Zakopane 2001 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 6 | |
| Tarvisio 2003 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 5 | |
| Innsbruck/Seefeld 2005 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 4 | |
| Turin 2007 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 9 | |
| Harbin 2009 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 20 | 4 | |
| Erzurum 2011 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 6 | |
| Trentino 2013 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 11 | |
| Granada/Štrbské Pleso 2015 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 10 | |
 Almaty 2017 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 28 | 4 | |
| Krasnoyarsk 2019 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 3 | |
| Lake Placid 2023 | 21 | 17 | 10 | 48 | 1 | |
| Total | 112 | 117 | 106 | 335 | 3 |