Noriaki Kasai

Noriaki "Kamikaze" Kasai (葛西 紀明, Kasai Noriaki?), born June 6, 1972 in Shimokawa, Hokkaidō, Japan, is a Japanese ski jumper.

Kasai holds a record for most individual and team performances in World Cup. To a date of March 24, 2013 he performed record 473 times in World Cup (both records: 427 individual & 46 team performances). He also holds a record for most seasons (22) competing in World Cup with debut performance on December 3, 1989 in Thunder Bay, Canada.

He holds world record for jumpers over 35 years old with 224 meters set in Planica 2010. He also holds world record for jumpers over 40 years old with 221.5 meters set in Planica 2013.

He won his first major championship at the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships 1992 in Harrachov, Czechoslovakia. At that time he was among the world's top jumpers, known for his extraordinary style, holding his body between his skis. In 1994, he was in the Japan team that won a silver medal in the team large hill at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, he has a total of six medals in his collection. This includes two silvers (Team large hill: 1999, 2003) and four bronzes (Individual normal hill: 2003, Individual large hill: 2003, and Team large hill: 2007, 2009).

Kasai also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1999.

Kasai has competed in six Olympics during his career - a record for a ski jumper - and earned his best individual finish of 5th in the individual large hill at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. In the 2010 Winter Olympics, at age thirty eight, he finished 8th on the large hill, having won the qualification with the second best jump overall, and 17th on the normal hill.

He has fifteen additional individual victories at various jumping levels from 1993 to 2004.