Akane Yamaguchi (山口茜, Yamaguchi Akane; born 6 June 1997) is a Japanese badminton player. She was a three-time world champion who won gold medals in the women's singles at the 2021, 2022 and 2025 World Championships. She was a member of the winning Japanese team at the Asian Junior Championships in 2012 and won the World Junior Championships in 2013 and 2014, the Asian Junior Championships in 2014, and the Asian Championships in 2019.

At the Asia Team Championships, Yamaguchi helped Japan win by 3–0 in 2017, 2018, and 2020. In 2018, she won the Uber Cup, which Japan had not won for 37 years.

In 2012, Yamaguchi began her junior international career. At the Asian Junior Championships, she won a bronze medal in girls' singles and was part of the Japanese team that won the nation's first mixed team title. Later that year, she claimed a silver medal in girls' singles and the mixed team event at the World Junior Championships. Yamaguchi also made her senior international debut that year at the Osaka International.

In April 2013, Yamaguchi finished second to Kaori Imabeppu at the Osaka International in the women's singles event with a score of 20–22, 16–21. She was the women's singles runner-up in the New Zealand Open, a Grand Prix tournament. She participated in the Japan Open, unseeded. She defeated P. V. Sindhu, the bronze medalist from the 2013 world championships in two straight games in round sixteen. She also defeated seeded player Tai Tzu-ying in a semi-final, leading to her match-up with her compatriot Shizuka Uchida, whom she beat in the final to become the youngest player to win the BWF Superseries tournament, aged only 16. This was also Japan's first ever victory at the home event since 1981.

One year after losing the final at the world juniors competition, Yamaguchi won the title by beating her teammate Aya Ohori. While in high school, Yamaguchi won the national badminton competition, competing in the women's singles event. At the 2nd Asian Youth Games held in Nanjing, China in August 2013, where she represented Fukushima Prefectural Tomioka High School, she won the gold medal in mixed doubles. In October, she represented Japan at the East Asian Games held in Tianjin, China, where she finished third in the women's singles event, losing in three sets to Wang Shixian. After graduating from high school, she joined the Saishunkan Pharmaceutical badminton team.

Yamaguchi was named the Most Promising Player of the Year by the Badminton World Federation in late 2013 and 2014.

At the Malaysian Open in January, Yamaguchi defeated reigning world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the first round in three games. In February, still a teenager, Yamaguchi entered the 2014 Asian Junior Championships as the fourth seed. She won the title by defeating Chen Yufei from China. She competed at the All England Open in March. She defended her World Junior crown, winning against Chinese player He Bingjiao in the final round.

She was part of the Japanese team that won the silver medal at the 2014 Uber Cup. On 16 August, Yamaguchi served as the flag-bearer for the Japanese team at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. She was the number one seed in the women's singles event, eventually winning the silver medal.