Kaoru Mitoma was born on 20 May 1997 in Tokyo and came through the Kawasaki Frontale academy alongside future Japan teammates such as Ao Tanaka. Rather than go straight into Frontale's first team, he made the unusual choice of attending the University of Tsukuba, where he wrote a graduation thesis analysing 1-on-1 dribbling using his own video footage. The four years of study made him a more analytical winger.
He returned to Frontale in 2020 and scored 13 goals in the J1 League as the club lifted the title. His left-foot cut-ins, balance and ability to commit defenders convinced Brighton & Hove Albion to sign him in August 2021, with an immediate loan to Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium.
For 2022–23 Mitoma joined Brighton's senior squad and quickly became the Premier League's most-watched dribbler. He scored a 95th-minute winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup, set up Roberto De Zerbi's possession-heavy attack with assist after assist, and recorded double-digit Premier League goal contributions across both 2022–23 and 2023–24. Despite injury setbacks in 2024–25, he remains one of Brighton's marquee players under new head coach Fabian Hürzeler.
A direct, two-footed wide attacker with rare body-feint timing, Mitoma made his Japan senior debut in 2021 and started at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where his cross-field run and pinpoint cutback set up Japan's winning goal against Spain.