100 Notable alumni of
Kyoto University
Updated:
Kyoto University is 32nd in the world, 5th in Asia, and 5th in Japan by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Kyoto University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 5 individuals affiliated with Kyoto University won Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology or Medicine.
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Tasuku Honjo
- Occupations
- biochemistphysicianuniversity teacherimmunologist
- Biography
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Tasuku Honjo is a Japanese physician-scientist and immunologist. He won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and is best known for his identification of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). He is also known for his molecular identification of cytokines: IL-4 and IL-5, as well as the discovery of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) that is essential for class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.
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Lee Teng-hui
- Years
- 1923-2020 (aged 97)
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- Studied in 1943-1946
- Occupations
- politicianagricultural economist
- Biography
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Lee Teng-hui was a Taiwanese statesman and agriculturist who served as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the first president to be born in Taiwan, the last to be indirectly elected and the first to be directly elected. During his presidency, Lee oversaw the end of martial law and the full democratization of the ROC, advocated the Taiwanese localization movement, and led an ambitious foreign policy agenda to gain allies around the world. Nicknamed "Mr. Democracy", Lee was credited as the president who completed Taiwan's democratic transition.
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Fumimaro Konoe
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Prince Fumimaro Konoe was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1937 to 1939 and from 1940 to 1941. He presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World War II. He also played a central role in transforming his country into a totalitarian state by passing the State General Mobilization Law and founding the Imperial Rule Assistance Association by dissolving all other political parties.
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Ken'ichi Maeyamada
- Occupations
- singer-songwritercomposerrecord producertarentomusic arranger
- Biography
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Kenichi Maeyamada, also known as Hyadain (ヒャダイン), is a Japanese composer, lyricist, and musician. His primary work is composing anime theme songs and for J-pop musicians. He contracts through Supalove, a Japanese record label. He has released a number of anime and video game music remixes, as well as original songs. These remixes have received over 20 million hits on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga.
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Shinya Yamanaka
- Occupations
- geneticistsurgeonphysicistresearcherphysician
- Biography
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Shinya Yamanaka is a Japanese stem cell researcher and a Nobel Prize laureate. He is a professor and the director emeritus of Center for iPS Cell (induced Pluripotent Stem Cell) Research and Application, Kyoto University; as a senior investigator at the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, California; and as a professor of anatomy at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Yamanaka is also a past president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).
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Hayato Ikeda
- Occupations
- economistpolitician
- Biography
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Hayato Ikeda was a Japanese bureaucrat and later politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1960 to 1964. He is best known for his Income Doubling Plan, which promised to double Japan's GDP in ten years.
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Nagisa Ōshima
- Occupations
- film directordirectorscreenwriterfilm producerfilm editor
- Biography
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Nagisa Ōshima was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. One of the foremost directors within the Japanese New Wave, his films include In the Realm of the Senses (1976), a sexually explicit film set in 1930s Japan, and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), about World War II prisoners of war held by the Japanese.
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Hideki Yukawa
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- Graduated with bachelor's degree
- Occupations
- physicisttheoretical physicistnuclear physicistprofessor
- Biography
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Hideki Yukawa was a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate for his prediction of the pi meson, or pion.
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Goshi Hosono
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Goshi Hosono is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Ōmihachiman, Shiga and graduate of Kyoto University, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000. He was the Minister of Environment and Minister of State for Nuclear Power Policy and Administration in the cabinet of Yoshihiko Noda. He represents the 5th District of Shizuoka prefecture.
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Chizuko Ueno
- Occupations
- feministsociologistprofessor
- Biography
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Chizuko Ueno is a Japanese sociologist and Japan's "best-known feminist". Her work covers sociological issues including semiotics, capitalism, and feminism in Japan. Ueno is known for the quality, polarizing nature, and accessibility of her work. She was married to historian Daikichi Irokawa.
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Tetsuro Fukuyama
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Tetsuro Fukuyama is a politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). He is currently the secretary general of the CDP. A native of Tokyo, he graduated from Doshisha University and received a master's degree from Kyoto University. After running unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 1996, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1998.
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Shuntarō Torigoe
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Shuntaro Torigoe is a Japanese journalist and political activist.
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Seiji Maehara
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Seiji Maehara is a Japanese politician who is the founder and leader of Free Education for All and a member of the House of Representatives of Japan since 1993.
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Shigeaki Hinohara
- Occupations
- internistphysicianwriter
- Biography
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Shigeaki Hinohara was a Japanese physician. In 1941 he began his long working association with St. Luke's International Hospital in central Tokyo and worked as a medical doctor throughout the wartime firebombing of the city. From 1990 he served as the hospital's honorary director. He was also Sophia University's Grief Care Institute director emeritus. He was honorary chairman of the Foundation Sasakawa Memorial Health Cooperation. Hinohara is credited with establishing and popularizing Japan's practice of annual medical checkups.
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Zhou Youguang
- Years
- 1906-2017 (aged 111)
- Occupations
- Esperantistuniversity teachertranslatoreconomistlinguist
- Biography
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Zhou Youguang, also known as Chou Yu-kuang or Chou Yao-ping, was a Chinese economist, banker, linguist, sinologist, Esperantist, publisher, and supercentenarian, adored as the "father of Pinyin", a system for the writing of Mandarin Chinese in Roman script, or romanization, which was officially adopted by the government of the People's Republic of China in 1958, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1982, and the United Nations in 1986.
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Kisho Kurokawa
- Occupations
- political activistarchitectthinkerbusinessperson
- Biography
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Kisho Kurokawa was a leading Japanese architect and one of the founders of the Metabolist Movement.
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Akira Yoshino
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- 1966-1970 graduated with Bachelor of Engineering in petrochemistry
- 1970-1972 graduated with Master of Engineering
- Occupations
- inventorengineerresearcherchemist
- Biography
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Akira Yoshino is a Japanese chemist. He is a fellow of Asahi Kasei Corporation and a professor at Meijo University in Nagoya. He created the first safe, production-viable lithium-ion battery, which became used widely in cellular phones and notebook computers. Yoshino was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 alongside M. Stanley Whittingham and John B. Goodenough.
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Mac Akasaka
- Occupations
- healerbusinesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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Makoto Tonami, also known as Mac Akasaka (マック 赤坂, Makku Akasaka), is a Japanese businessman, political activist and perennial candidate.
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Yutaka Yamamoto
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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Yutaka Yamamoto is a Japanese anime director from Osaka Prefecture. He helped co-found Ordet.
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Kan Kikuchi
- Occupations
- novelistplaywrightbusinesspersonwritertranslator
- Biography
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Hiroshi Kikuchi, also known as Kan Kikuchi (which uses the same kanji as his real name), was a Japanese author. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa and Naoki Prize for popular literature. He came to prominence for the plays "Madame Pearl" and "Father Returns", but his ample support for the Imperial Japanese war effort led to his marginalization in the postwar period. He was also the head of Daiei Motion Picture Company (currently Kadokawa Pictures). He was known to have been an avid player of mahjong.
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Yasushi Adachi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Yasushi Adachi is a Japanese Politician of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) serving as a member of the House of Representatives, a position that he has been elected to three times, once in 2012, 2014, and 2021. After the 2021 House of Representatives election, Adachi was appointed by co-party leader Baba Nobuyuki to the position of the Chairperson of Diet Caucus Policy Affairs Research Council, the de facto leader of all policy affairs within the party. Adachi supports the making free education a constitutional right, saying that it would help slow the decline in birthrate.
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Hajime Tanabe
- Occupations
- philosopheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hajime Tanabe was a Japanese philosopher of science, particularly of mathematics and physics. His work brought together elements of Buddhism, scientific thought, Western philosophy, Christianity, and Marxism. In the postwar years, Tanabe coined the concept of metanoetics, proposing that the limits of speculative philosophy and reason must be surpassed by metanoia.
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Yoshiki Sasai
- Occupations
- university teacherbiologistphysician
- Biography
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Yoshiki Sasai was a Japanese stem cell biologist. He developed methods to guide human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into forming brain cortex, eyes (optic cups), and other organs in tissue culture. Sasai worked at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) in Kobe, and was Director of the Laboratory for Organogenesis and Neurogenesis. Following his involvement in the 2014 STAP cell controversy, Sasai was found dead at Riken from an apparent suicide.
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Frank Hsieh
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- Graduated with master's degree
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Frank Hsieh Chang-ting is a Taiwanese politician and former defense attorney. A cofounder of the Democratic Progressive Party, he has served on the Taipei City Council, the Legislative Yuan, as the mayor of Kaohsiung City, and as the Premier of the Executive Yuan under president Chen Shui-bian. Hsieh was the DPP nominee in the 2008 presidential election and was defeated by Ma Ying-jeou. Hsieh is currently the head of the Representative of Taiwan to Japan.
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Yasushi Inoue
- Occupations
- novelistpoetwriterscreenwriter
- Biography
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Yasushi Inoue was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories, poetry and essays, noted for his historical and autobiographical fiction. His most acclaimed works include The Bullfight (Tōgyū, 1949), The Roof Tile of Tempyō (Tenpyō no iraka, 1957) and Tun-huang (Tonkō, 1959).
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Kiyoshi Oka
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- Studied in 1919-1925
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosophermathematician
- Biography
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Kiyoshi Oka was a Japanese mathematician who did fundamental work in the theory of several complex variables.
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Sakyo Komatsu
- Occupations
- writerscreenwritermangakascience fiction writerjournalist
- Biography
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Sakyo Komatsu was a Japanese science fiction writer and screenwriter. He was one of the most well known and highly regarded science fiction writers in Japan.
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Leo Esaki
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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Reona Esaki, also known as Leo Esaki, is a Japanese physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 with Ivar Giaever and Brian David Josephson for his work in electron tunneling in semiconductor materials which finally led to his invention of the Esaki diode, which exploited that phenomenon. This research was done when he was with Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (now known as Sony). He has also contributed in being a pioneer of the semiconductor superlattices.
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Motojirō Kajii
- Occupations
- novelistwriterpoet
- Biography
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Motojirō Kajii was a Japanese writer in the early Shōwa period known for his poetic short stories. Kajii's works included Remon (檸檬, "Lemon"), "Shiro no aru machi nite" (城のある町にて, "In a Castle Town"). Fuyu no hi (冬の日, "Winter Days") and Sakura no ki no shita ni wa (櫻の樹の下には, "Beneath the Cherry Trees"). His poetic works were praised by fellow writers including Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima. Today his works are admired for their finely tuned self-observation and descriptive power.
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Sin-Itiro Tomonaga
- Occupations
- physicisttheoretical physicistresearcherprofessor
- Biography
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Shinichiro Tomonaga, usually cited as Sin-Itiro Tomonaga in English, was a Japanese physicist, influential in the development of quantum electrodynamics, work for which he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 along with Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger.
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Sakunosuke Oda
- Occupations
- novelistwriterscreenwriter
- Biography
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Sakunosuke Oda was a Japanese writer. He is often grouped with Osamu Dazai and Ango Sakaguchi as the Buraiha. Literally meaning ruffian or hoodlum faction, this label was not a matter of a stylistic school but one bestowed upon them by conservative critics disparaging the authors' attitudes and subject matter.
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Satoshi Fujii
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Satoshi Fujii is a Japanese civil engineer, economist and social critic, who served as a special advisor to the Abe cabinet until his voluntary Retirement. He is Professor of civil engineering at Kyoto University and the editor-in-chief of Hyogensha Criterion, an academic journal in Japan.
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Susumu Tonegawa
- Occupations
- scientistimmunologistchemistprofessorinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Susumu Tonegawa is a Japanese scientist who was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for his discovery of V(D)J recombination, the genetic mechanism which produces antibody diversity. Although he won the Nobel Prize for his work in immunology, Tonegawa is a molecular biologist by training and he again changed fields following his Nobel Prize win; he now studies neuroscience, examining the molecular, cellular and neuronal basis of memory formation and retrieval.
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Kōda Rohan
- Occupations
- novelistwriterliterary critic
- Biography
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Kōda Shigeyuki, pen name Kōda Rohan (幸田 露伴), was a Japanese author. His daughter, Aya Kōda, was also a noted author who often wrote about him.
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Satoru Kōsaki
- Occupations
- DJ producercomposermusic arranger
- Biography
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Satoru Kōsaki is a Japanese music composer and arranger. He is best known for his work on anime, including Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Monogatari and Beastars. He worked at Namco, where he primarily composed soundtracks for video games. Since 2005, he has been affiliated with Keiichi Okabe's music production company Monaca, where he has often collaborated with his colleagues to produce soundtracks for anime and other media.
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Bunmei Ibuki
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Bunmei Ibuki is a Japanese politician.
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Toshihide Maskawa
- Occupations
- physicistprofessortheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Toshihide Maskawa was a Japanese theoretical physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."
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Hayao Kawai
- Occupations
- psychologistpsychiatristpsychoanalyst
- Biography
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Hayao Kawai was a Japanese Jungian psychologist who has been described as "the founder of Japanese Analytical and Clinical Psychology". He introduced the sandplay therapy concept to Japanese psychology. He participated in Eranos from 1982. Kawai was the director of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies from 1995 to 2001. As chief of the Agency for Cultural Affairs from 2002 to 2007, he oversaw the popular Nihon no Uta Hyakusen song selection, as well as the "Kokoro no Note" ethics textbook now used in all Japanese primary schools. He died in Tenri Hospital following a stroke.
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Heisuke Hironaka
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- Studied in 1949-1956
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Heisuke Hironaka is a Japanese mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970 for his contributions to algebraic geometry.
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Hirohiko Izumida
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hirohiko Izumida is a Japanese politician who was the Governor of Niigata Prefecture between 2004 and 2016.
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Ryōji Noyori
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- 1957-1961 graduated with bachelor's degree
- 1961-1963 graduated with master's degree
- 1963-1967 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- professorchemist
- Biography
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Ryōji Noyori is a Japanese chemist. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001, Noyori shared a half of the prize with William S. Knowles for the study of chirally catalyzed hydrogenations; the second half of the prize went to K. Barry Sharpless for his study in chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions (Sharpless epoxidation).
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Takeshi Umehara
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacheropinion journalistplaywrightphilosopher
- Biography
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Takeshi Umehara was born in Miyagi Prefecture in Tōhoku and graduated from the philosophical faculty of Kyoto University in 1948. He taught philosophy at Ritsumeikan University and was subsequently appointed president of the Kyoto City University of Arts. He is noted for his prolific essays on Japanese culture, in which he has endeavoured to refound the discipline of Japanese studies along more Japanocentric lines, notably in his book Nihongaku kotohajime (日本学事始) written in 1972 in collaboration with Shunpei Ueyama. Aside from his voluminous academic essays on numerous aspects of Japanese culture he has also composed theatrical works on figures as varied as Yamato Takeru and Gilgamesh.
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Shigefumi Mori
- Occupations
- professormathematician
- Biography
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Shigefumi Mori is a Japanese mathematician, known for his work in algebraic geometry, particularly in relation to the classification of three-folds.
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Yukiko Kada
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticiansociologist
- Biography
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Yukiko Kada is a Japanese politician and member of the National Diet of Japan, serving as member of the House of Councillors from Shiga Prefecture since 2019. She was the governor of Shiga for two terms from 2006 to 2014.
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Shōhei Ōoka
- Years
- 1909-1988 (aged 79)
- Occupations
- writernovelistscreenwriterliterary critictranslator
- Biography
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Shōhei Ōoka was a Japanese novelist, literary critic, and lecturer and translator of French literature who was active during the Shōwa period. Ōoka belongs to the group of postwar writers whose Pacific War experiences at home and abroad figure prominently in their works. Over his lifetime, he contributed short stories and critical essays to almost every literary magazine in Japan.
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Hiroshi Yamada
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hiroshi Yamada is a Japanese politician born on January 8, 1958. He is a former member of the House of Representatives and was the inaugural Secretary-General of the Party for Future Generations, an opposition party formed in August 2014.
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Bruno Gollnisch
- Occupations
- japanologistpoliticianjurist
- Biography
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Bruno Gollnisch is a French academic and politician, a member of the National Front (FN) far-right party. He was a member of the European Parliament and was chairman of the European Parliamentary group 'Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty' in 2007, which was dissolved in November 2007 following the defection of the Greater Romania Party. He was thereafter a Non-Inscrit. Gollnisch has also been the executive vice-president of the FN from 2007 to 2011. He was also a councillor of the Rhône-Alpes région of France. Because of his public comments, and his position in the National Front he is a controversial figure in France.
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Isamu Akasaki
- Occupations
- physicistengineerresearcherprofessor
- Biography
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Isamu Akasaki was a Japanese engineer and physicist, specializing in the field of semiconductor technology and Nobel Prize laureate, best known for inventing the bright gallium nitride (GaN) p-n junction blue LED in 1989 and subsequently the high-brightness GaN blue LED as well.
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Zhou Fohai
- Occupations
- politiciancivil servant
- Biography
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Zhou Fohai was a Chinese politician and the second-in-command of the Executive Yuan in Wang Jingwei's collaborationist Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
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Shuhei Yoshida
- Biography
-
Shuhei Yoshida is a Japanese businessman and gaming industry veteran. He was the President of SIE Worldwide Studios for Sony Interactive Entertainment from 2008 to 2019, before moving onto other SIE-related projects. Yoshida has been a key member of the PlayStation brand since its original concept, having been part of the company since 1993.
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Kenichi Fukui
- Occupations
- researcherchemistprofessor
- Biography
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Kenichi Fukui was a Japanese chemist, known as the first person of East Asian ancestry to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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Tu Tsung-ming
- Occupations
- university teacherpharmacologist
- Biography
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Tu Tsung-ming, was the first Doctor of Medical Sciences (equivalent to Ph.D.) of Taiwan. He was born in Tamsui in 1893, trained as a physician at Taiwan Governor's Medical School, and received his doctorate degree from Kyoto Imperial University (now Kyoto University) in 1922. He became the first Taiwanese professor in Japan's pre-1945 imperial university system, at Taihoku Imperial University (now National Taiwan University). His pharmacology research lab was the cradle of medical research in Taiwan. The laboratory did pioneering research on methods to treat opium addiction, on the toxicology of snake venom, and on the pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine.
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Akihiro Ōta
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Akihiro Ota is a Japanese politician of the Komeito Party, currently serving his seventh term in the House of Representatives in the National Diet. Ota has represented three districts within the Tokyo metropolis since first entering the national Diet in 1993. He served as president of the Komeito Party from 2006 until the general election in September 2009, at which time he lost his seat in the Diet. Upon his return to the House in December 2012, Ota was appointed as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, a post he held until October 2015.
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Naokazu Takemoto
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Naokazu Takemoto is a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
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Hiroshi Ogawa
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hiroshi Ogawa was a Japanese politician who became the governor of Fukuoka Prefecture in 2011. In 2015, he was re-elected for a second term, and for a third term in 2019. In 2021 he resigned to receive cancer treatment and the vice governor Seitaro Hattori was elected to replace him.
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Tomohiro Yamamoto
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Tomohiro Yamamoto is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
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Kazunori Yamanoi
- Occupations
- chemistpoliticiansocial worker
- Biography
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Kazunori Yamanoi is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kyoto, Kyoto, he attended the University of Kyoto as both undergraduate and graduate. He also studied at Lund University in Sweden for two years. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000.
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Yoshinobu Nisaka
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Yoshinobu Nisaka is a former governor of Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. He was first elected in 2006 and served for four terms until 2022.
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Kiyoshi Miki
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Kiyoshi Miki was a Japanese philosopher, literary critic, scholar and university professor. He was an esteemed student of Nishida Kitarō and a prominent member of the Kyoto School.
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Masanori Tanimoto
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Masanori Tanimoto is a Japanese politician who was the governor of Ishikawa Prefecture between 1994 and 2022. After his first election, in 1994, he was reelected 6 times. In 2018 he won his seventh term of office.
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Kobun Chino Otogawa
- Years
- 1938-2002 (aged 64)
- Occupations
- Bhikkhu
- Biography
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Kōbun Otogawa was an American Sōtō Zen priest.
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Ukichiro Nakaya
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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Ukichiro Nakaya was a Japanese physicist and science essayist known for his work in glaciology and low-temperature sciences. He is credited with making the first artificial snowflakes.
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Minoru Shirota
- Occupations
- bacteriologistphysicianmicrobiologistbusinessperson
- Biography
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Minoru Shirota was a Japanese microbiologist. In the 1930 Shirota identified a strain of lactic acid bacteria that is part of normal gut flora that he originally called Lactobacillus casei Shirota, which appeared to help contain the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut. The strain was later reclassified as Lactobacillus paracasei Shirota.
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Toshinori Kondo
- Occupations
- jazz musiciancomposerfilm score composerrecord producertrumpeter
- Biography
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Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter.
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Motoo Kimura
- Occupations
- biologistgeneticistmathematician
- Biography
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Motoo Kimura was a Japanese biologist best known for introducing the neutral theory of molecular evolution in 1968. He became one of the most influential theoretical population geneticists. He is remembered in genetics for his innovative use of diffusion equations to calculate the probability of fixation of beneficial, deleterious, or neutral alleles. Combining theoretical population genetics with molecular evolution data, he also developed the neutral theory of molecular evolution in which genetic drift is the main force changing allele frequencies. James F. Crow, himself a renowned population geneticist, considered Kimura to be one of the two greatest evolutionary geneticists, along with Gustave Malécot, after the great trio of the modern synthesis, Ronald Fisher, J. B. S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright.
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Kazumi Matsui
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kazumi Matsui is a Japanese politician and the current mayor of Hiroshima, the capital city of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan.
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Lin Wenyue
- Years
- 1933-2023 (aged 90)
- Occupations
- university teachertranslatorwriter
- Biography
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Lin Wenyue was a Taiwanese scholar, writer, translator, and professor.
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Yoshito Hori
- Occupations
- international forum participantbusinessperson
- Biography
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Yoshito Hori is a Japanese businessman, educator, and venture capitalist. He is the founder and president of Globis Corporation and Globis University Graduate School of Management. He is also founder and managing partner of Globis Capital Partners, president of the G1 Institute and the Kibow Foundation, and owner of the Ibaraki Robots basketball team and radio broadcaster Ibaraki Broadcasting System.
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Kazumi Takahashi
- Occupations
- novelistliterary scholarwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Kazumi Takahashi was a Japanese novelist and scholar of Chinese literature in Shōwa period Japan. His wife was fellow writer Takako Takahashi.
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Takashi Asahina
- Years
- 1908-2001 (aged 93)
- Occupations
- conductor
- Biography
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Asahina Takashi was a Japanese conductor.
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Hitoshi Asada
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hitoshi Asada is a Japanese politician who has served as a member of the House of Councillors of Japan since 2016. He represents the Osaka at-large district and is a member of the Japan Innovation Party.
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Higashifushimi Kunihide
- Occupations
- Bhikkhu
- Biography
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Count Higashifushimi Kunihide was the titular head of the Higashifushimi-no-miya, an extinct branch of the Imperial House of Japan, and a Buddhist monk. He was the youngest brother of Empress Kōjun and was the maternal uncle of Emperor Emeritus Akihito. If he had kept his imperial status, at the time of his death he would have been the oldest-ever member of the Japanese imperial family. His Dharma name was Jigō (慈洽).
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Kiyoto Tsuji
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kiyoto Tsuji is a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives, representing the Tokyo 2nd district. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
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Kinji Imanishi
- Occupations
- mountaineeranthropologistuniversity teacherentomologist
- Biography
-
Kinji Imanishi was a Japanese ecologist and anthropologist. He was the founder of Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute and, together with Junichiro Itani, is considered one of the founders of Japanese primatology.
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Jun Sawada
- Occupations
- business executive
- Biography
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Jun Sawada is a Japanese businessman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), the third largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of revenue, since June 2018.
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Keiro Kitagami
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Keiro Kitagami is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
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Kuniyoshi Obara
- Occupations
- teacher
- Biography
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Kuniyoshi Obara was an influential Japanese education reformer and publisher. Obara left a strong mark in education philosophy and on the theories of liberal education, art education and vocational education. In addition to creating his own education theory, Zenjin (or "Whole Person") Education, he was among the leaders of the New Education Movement in Japan and disseminated in that country the works of earlier reformers such as Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. He was the founder of the campus Tamagawa Gakuen and for many years president of its university, Tamagawa University.
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Takashi Shinohara
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Takashi Shinohara is a Japanese Toy Boy of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
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Hakuchō Masamune
- Occupations
- novelistwriterliterary critic
- Biography
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Hakuchō Masamune, born Tadao Masamune, was a noted Japanese critic and writer of fiction, and a leading member of the Japanese Naturalist school of literature.
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Kan Kimura
- Occupations
- political scientisthistorian
- Biography
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Kan Kimura is a Japanese scholar of political studies and area studies. He is now a professor at Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University, Japan.
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Juichi Yamagiwa
- Occupations
- anthropologist
- Biography
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Juichi Yamagiwa is a Japanese anthropologist and the former president of Kyoto University.
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Shimon Sakaguchi
- Occupations
- biologistphysicianuniversity teacherimmunologist
- Biography
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Shimon Sakaguchi is an immunologist and a Distinguished Professor of Osaka University. He is best known for the discovery of regulatory T cells and to describe their role in the immune system. This discovery is used in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
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Kazutoshi Mori
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- 1981-1985 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- biochemistuniversity teachermolecular biologist
- Biography
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Kazutoshi Mori is a Japanese molecular biologist known for research on unfolded protein response. He is a professor of Biophysics at the Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, and shared the 2014 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Peter Walter for discoveries concerning the unfolded protein response — an intracellular quality control system that detects harmful misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum and signals the nucleus to carry out corrective measures.
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Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) and Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs. A native of Kurobe, Toyama and dropout of Kyoto University, he was elected to the first of his four terms in the assembly of Toyama Prefecture in 1983 and then to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1998.
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Tadahiro Matsushita
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Tadahiro Matsushita was a Japanese politician and five-time member of the House of Representatives of Japan. He served in government from 1962 when he joined the Ministry of Construction to 2012. At the time of his death, he was the Minister of State for Financial Services.
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Keiji Nishitani
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterphilosopher
- Biography
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Keiji Nishitani was a Japanese philosopher. He was a scholar of the Kyoto School and a disciple of Kitarō Nishida. In 1924, Nishitani received his doctorate from Kyoto Imperial University for his dissertation "Das Ideale und das Reale bei Schelling und Bergson". He studied under Martin Heidegger in Freiburg from 1937 to 1939.
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Masakazu Yamazaki
- Occupations
- literary criticplaywrightwritercritic
- Biography
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Masakazu Yamazaki was a Japanese writer, literary critic, and philosopher.
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Hirosi Ooguri
- Enrolled in Kyoto University
- In 1984 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- In 1986 graduated with Master of Science
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicisttheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Hirosi Ooguri is a theoretical physicist working on quantum field theory, quantum gravity, superstring theory, and their interfaces with mathematics. He is Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics and the Founding Director of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at California Institute of Technology. He is also the director of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics at the University of Tokyo and is the chair of the board of trustees of the Aspen Center for Physics in Colorado.
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Tetsuji Takechi
- Occupations
- film directorwritertheatrical directorimpresario
- Biography
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Tetsuji Takechi was a Japanese theatrical and film director, critic, and author. First coming to prominence for his theatrical criticism, in the 1940s and 1950s he produced influential and popular experimental kabuki plays. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he continued his innovative theatrical work in noh, kyōgen and modern theater. In late 1956 and early 1957 he hosted a popular TV program, The Tetsuji Takechi Hour, which featured his reinterpretations of Japanese stage classics.
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Michio Morishima
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
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Michio Morishima was a Japanese heterodox economist and public intellectual who was the Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics from 1970 to 1988. He was also professor at Osaka University and member of the British Academy. In 1976 he won the Order of Culture (文化勲章, Bunka-kunshō).
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Hitoshi Motoshima
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hitoshi Motoshima was a Japanese politician. He served four terms as mayor of Nagasaki from 1979 to 1995. He publicly made controversial statements about the responsibility of Japan and its then-reigning Emperor for World War II, and survived a retaliatory assassination attempt in 1990 by a right wing fanatic.
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Masaki Kashiwara
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Masaki Kashiwara is a Japanese mathematician. He was a student of Mikio Sato at the University of Tokyo. Kashiwara made leading contributions towards algebraic analysis, microlocal analysis, D-module theory, Hodge theory, sheaf theory and representation theory.
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Kanae Yamamoto
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 53)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kanae Yamamoto is a Japanese politician of the New Komeito Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Hiroshima Prefecture and graduate of Kyoto University, she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995, attending Istanbul University while in the ministry. In 2001, after leaving the ministry, she was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time.
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Takeo Kanade
- Occupations
- university teachercomputer scientist
- Biography
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Takeo Kanade is a Japanese computer scientist and one of the world's foremost researchers in computer vision. He is U.A. and Helen Whitaker Professor at Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science. He has approximately 300 peer-reviewed academic publications and holds around 20 patents.
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Tatsuo Kawabata
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Tatsuo Kawabata is a Japanese politician from the Democratic Party, and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) from 1986 to 2017. A native of Ōmihachiman, Shiga, he attended Kyoto University and received a master's degree from it. His elder brother is former mayor of Omihachiman Gohei Kawabata. In September 2011 he was appointed as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in the cabinet of newly appointed prime minister Yoshihiko Noda. He was relieved from the post on 1 October 2012. In September 2017, Kawabata announced that he would not run in the 2017 general election and would retire from politics.
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Wataru Asō
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Wataru Asō is the former governor of Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 1995. From 2005 to 2011 he was also President of the National Governors Association (Japan) (全国知事会, Zenkoku Chiji-kai). A native of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka and graduate of Kyoto University, he joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1963. He retired on 22 April 2011, and Hiroshi Ogawa replaced him as governor. Keiji Yamada took over as President of the Governor's Association.
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Senji Yamamoto
- Occupations
- public figurebiologistpolitician
- Biography
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Yamamoto Senji was a Japanese biologist and leftist politician during the interwar period of Showa era Japan.
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Kiyoteru Hanada
- Occupations
- art criticfilm criticnovelistliterary criticplaywright
- Biography
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Kiyoteru Hanada was a prominent Japanese literary critic and essayist. Hanada is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential advocates and theorists of the postwar avant-garde art movement. Jukki Hanada is his grandson.
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Hiroshi Noma
- Occupations
- novelistwriterpoet
- Biography
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Hiroshi Noma was a Japanese poet, novelist and essayist. According to literary scholar Doug Slaymaker, Noma is widely credited with having discovered or invented the style of writing called by the term "postwar literature" (sengo bungaku) in Japan.
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Sachio Semmoto
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Sachio Semmoto is the current Chairman and CEO of eAccess and eMobile, a Japanese telecommunication company. On March 24, 2009, he was also appointed as a director to the Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited.
