33 Notable alumni of
Hokkaido University
Updated:
Hokkaido University is 324th in the world, 61st in Asia, and 26th in Japan by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 33 notable alumni from Hokkaido University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 1 individual affiliated with Hokkaido University won Nobel Prizes in Chemistry.
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Yūichirō Miura
- Occupations
- skiermountaineerveterinarian
- Biography
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Yūichirō Miura is a Japanese speed skier and alpinist. In 1970, he became the first person to ski on Mount Everest. Forty-three years later, in 2013, he became the oldest person to summit Everest, at the age of 80. He was born in Aomori Prefecture and graduated from Hokkaido University. He was introduced to alpine sports by his father when he was in second grade. Peaks he has skied down include all the Seven Summits. The government of Japan named an award after him and he was recognized by Guinness World Records. He has made many public appearances and has worked with several companies and organizations.
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Gaku Hasegawa
- Enrolled in Hokkaido University
- Studied in 1990
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Gaku Hasegawa is a member of the House of Councillors of Japan from Hokkaido. He belongs to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
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Seiji Osaka
- Enrolled in Hokkaido University
- Studied in 1979-1983
- Occupations
- politicianadministrative scrivenerpharmacist
- Biography
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Seiji Osaka is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
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Hiranao Honda
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hiranao Honda is a former Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party, who served as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Sapporo, Honda represents Hokkaido through the Hokkaido PR block.
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Riko Muranaka
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicianjournalist
- Biography
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Riko Muranaka is a medical doctor, journalist and recipient of the 2017 John Maddox Prize for fighting to reduce cervical cancer and countering misinformation about the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine dominating the Japanese media, despite facing safety threats. Despite the lack of evidence, the HPV vaccine is infamous in Japan due to misattributed adverse effects, with government suspending promotion and coverage. While the World Health Organization (WHO) safety and efficacy information about the vaccine is consistent with Muranaka's reporting, a court ruled against Muranaka in an unrelated slander lawsuit in 2016 for claims of alleged fabrication. Under threat of legal harassment by antivaccine activists, publishers declined some of her works including a book on the HPV vaccine (ultimately, Heibonsha accepted the book for publication).
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Michiyo Tsujimura
- Occupations
- agronomistbiochemist
- Biography
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Michiyo Tsujimura was a Japanese agricultural scientist and biochemist whose research focused on the components of green tea. She was the first woman in Japan to receive a doctoral degree in agriculture.
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Naomi Koshi
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Naomi Koshi is a Japanese lawyer and advocate for gender equality and retired politician. In 2012 she became the youngest woman elected mayor of a Japanese city as the Mayor of Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture for two four-year terms from January 2012 to January 2020.
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Akira Suzuki
- Occupations
- chemistprofessor
- Biography
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Akira Suzuki is a Japanese chemist and Nobel Prize Laureate (2010), who first published the Suzuki reaction, the organic reaction of an aryl- or vinyl-boronic acid with an aryl- or vinyl-halide catalyzed by a palladium(0) complex, in 1979.
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Yasue Funayama
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Yasue Funayama is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Councillors (Japan) in the Diet (national legislature).
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Katsuhiro Akimoto
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Katsuhiro Akimoto is a Japanese politician and the incumbent mayor of Sapporo, the largest and capital city of Hokkaido, Japan.
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Yoshihiro Kawaoka
- Occupations
- virologist
- Biography
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Yoshihiro Kawaoka is a virologist specializing in the study of the influenza and Ebola viruses. He holds a professorship in virology in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and at the University of Tokyo, Japan.
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Maki Ikeda
- Enrolled in Hokkaido University
- 2013-2015 graduated with master's degree in Goldman School of Public Policy
- Occupations
- long-term care support specialistMental Health Social WorkerCertified Social WorkerBousaishicivil servant
- Biography
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Maki Ikeda is a Japanese politician who has been in the House of Representatives as a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan since 2024, and from 2017 to 2021.
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Yoshio Hachiro
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Yoshio Hachiro is a former Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party who served as a member of the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
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Takeshi Mitarai
- Years
- 1901-1984 (aged 83)
- Occupations
- businesspersonphysician
- Biography
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Takeshi Mitarai was one of the founders of Canon Inc. He established Canon in 1937 along with Goro Yoshida, Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda.
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Keizo Miura
- Occupations
- mountaineerexplorerski teacheralpine skier
- Biography
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Keizo Miura was a Japanese skier who was born in Aomori. He was a skiing teacher and photographer of mountain landscapes. He was notable for his fitness and outdoor-sport undertakings at advanced age; at 77 he was the oldest person to climb Kilimanjaro and at 99 descended a Gletscher of Mont Blanc together with his oldest son Yūichirō and grandson Gota. Yūichirō Miura was also the oldest person to climb Mount Everest and the Himalayas, at age 70, at age 75 and later at age 80. Keizo Miura wrote two books on his health routine, one of them co-written with his physician.
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Hiroshi Shimizu
- Occupations
- film directorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Hiroshi Shimizu was a Japanese film director, who directed over 160 films during his career.
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Hiroshi Ishii
- Occupations
- computer scientistengineer
- Biography
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Hiroshi Ishii is a Japanese computer scientist and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also Associate Director of the MIT Media Laboratory.
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Genichiro Sata
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Genichiro Sata is a former Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
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Toshinari Masuda
- Occupations
- novelist
- Biography
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Toshinari Masuda is a Japanese novelist, critic, and visiting professor of Nagoya University of Arts.
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Yoshimaro Yamashina
- Occupations
- military personnelornithologistpolitician
- Biography
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Marquis Yoshimaro Yamashina was a Japanese ornithologist. He was the founder of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology.
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Yōichi Komori
- Occupations
- poetliterary criticprofessor
- Biography
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Yōichi Komori is a critic of Japanese modern literature and a social activist in Japan. He is currently a professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan.
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Teruaki Masumoto
- Occupations
- human rights defender
- Biography
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Teruaki Masumoto is the secretary general of the Japanese Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, which advocates for the return of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea and calls for the Japanese government to impose sanctions on the country. His older sister Rumiko is one of the victims. On February 1, 2007, he married actress Yuuko Wakamiya. in May 2012 he testified at North Korean human rights in European Parliament about his sister and other abductees including Megumi Yokota and Yaeko Taguchi.
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Tatsuya Hori
- Years
- 1935-.. (age 91)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Tatsuya Hori is a Japanese politician. He was director of the Hokkaidō-Kitami University. From 1995 he served as governor of Hokkaidō for two terms totalling 8 years. He was chairman of the board of Sapporo University. He was associate professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture.
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Ryō Shuhama
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ryo Shuhama is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature).
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Hitoshi Kihara
- Years
- 1893-1986 (aged 93)
- Enrolled in Hokkaido University
- In 1918 studied genetics
- Occupations
- geneticistbiologistbotanistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hitoshi Kihara was a Japanese geneticist known for his work on the genetics of wheat and fruits.
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Naohiro Dōgakinai
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Naohiro Dōgakinai was the third governor of Hokkaido (1971–1983). He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, and originally from Sapporo.
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Ayako Fuchigami
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ayako Fuchigami is a member of the Hokkaido Legislative Assembly, representing Sapporo's Higashi-ku ward. She is the first openly transgender person to hold a prefectural assembly position in Japan.
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Ryuzo Yanagimachi
- Occupations
- university teacherbiologist
- Biography
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Ryuzo Yanagimachi was a Japanese-born, American-based scientist. He made numerous key contributions to the study of mammalian fertilization, and he was also a pioneer in the cloning field. Accordingly, he assisted in fertilization technologies such as in vitro fertilization and direct sperm injection into the egg (commonly called intracytoplasmic sperm injection or ICSI), which are widely used today in human infertility clinics throughout the world. In 1997, his laboratory at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa successfully cloned mice using the Honolulu technique.
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Lo Tsung-lo
- Occupations
- botanist
- Biography
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Lo Tsung-lo was a Chinese botanist and plant physiologist. Lo was a main founder of modern plant physiology in China. He was the first president of National Taiwan University after World War II.
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Tadahiko Mizuno
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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Tadahiko Mizuno is a Japanese nuclear-chemist known for his work on cold fusion. He was a former assistant professor teaching the Atomic Power Environmental Materials program at Hokkaido University. He was also a member of Energy Environmental Institute of Engineering at Hokkaido University until 2009.
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Masayoshi Uchida
- Occupations
- swimmercompetitive diver
- Biography
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Masayoshi Uchida was a Japanese swimmer. He competed in two swimming events and the diving at the 1920 Summer Olympics. He was killed in action during World War II.
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Shūichi Katō
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Shuichi Kato is a Japanese politician of the New Komeito Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature).
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Shioko Kimura
- Enrolled in Hokkaido University
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- cancer researcherbiochemist
- Biography
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Shioko Kimura is a Japanese-American biochemist specialized in endocrinology and the physiology and pathogenesis of diseases including thyroid and lung cancers. She headed the endocrinology section in the laboratory of metabolism at the National Cancer Institute until her retirement in 2025.
