Kotaro Yatabe (谷田部 洸太郎, Yatabe Kōtarō, born 29 July 1986) is a Japanese international rugby union player who plays as a lock or loose forward.

plays for the Sunwolves in Super Rugby and Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan's domestic Top League.

[2][3] Yatabe has played all of his senior club rugby in Japan with the Panasonic Wild Knights who he joined in 2014.

[2][3][4] Yatabe made his senior international debut in a match against South Korea on April 30, 2016 and featured in 3 more tests against Asian opposition in the spring of 2016 before making substitute appearances against Canada and Scotland during the 2016 mid-year rugby union internationals series.

[1] This Japanese rugby union biography is a stub.