49 Notable alumni of
Tohoku University
Updated:
Tohoku University is 247th in the world, 47th in Asia, and 21st in Japan by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 49 notable alumni from Tohoku University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Lu Xun
- Occupations
- essayisttranslatorwriterliterary criticEsperantist
- Biography
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Zhou Shuren, known by his pen name Lu Xun, was a Chinese writer, literary critic, lecturer, and state servant. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in vernacular Chinese and classical Chinese, he was a short story writer, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, poet, and designer. In the 1930s, he became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai during republican-era China (1912–1949).
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Yukio Edano
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Yukio Edano is a Japanese politician who served as the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan from its formation in 2017 until 2021.
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Masako Mori
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Masako Mori is a Japanese politician and lawyer who has served in the House of Councillors since 2007, and as Minister of Justice from October 2019 to September 2020. She is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
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Koichi Tanaka
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- 1978-1983 graduated with bachelor's degree in engineering
- Occupations
- chemistuniversity teacherengineer
- Biography
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Koichi Tanaka is a Japanese electrical engineer who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 for developing a novel method for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules with John Bennett Fenn and Kurt Wüthrich (the latter for work in NMR spectroscopy).
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Akira Koike
- Occupations
- internistphysicianpolitician
- Biography
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Akira Koike is a Japanese politician and physician who is the secretary-general and vice chair of the Japanese Communist Party. He also serves as a member of the House of Councillors for the party.
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Morio Kita
- Occupations
- writerpsychiatristnovelistscreenwriterchildren's writer
- Biography
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Morio Kita was the pen name of Sokichi Saitō (斎藤 宗吉, Saitō Sōkichi, 1 May 1927 – 24 October 2011), a Japanese psychiatrist, novelist and essayist.
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Norihisa Satake
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Norihisa Satake is a Japanese politician. A former two-term mayor of Akita City in Akita Prefecture, first elected in 2001, he is currently the Governor of Akita Prefecture after winning election on April 12, 2009. He is the 21st head of the North Satake branch of the Satake clan.
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Mitsuru Sakurai
- Occupations
- politicianinternist
- Biography
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Mitsuru Sakurai is a Japanese politician formerly of the Democratic Party of Japan and is now a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He is a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature).
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Kenya Akiba
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kenya Akiba is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Miyagi Prefecture, he attended Chuo University as an undergraduate and received his master's degree from Tohoku University. He was elected to the first of his three terms in the assembly of Miyagi Prefecture in 1995 and then to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2005.
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Hirofumi Uzawa
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hirofumi Uzawa was a Japanese economist.
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Terunobu Fujimori
- Occupations
- critichistorianprofessorarchitectural historianarchitect
- Biography
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Terunobu Fujimori is a Japanese architect and architectural historian.
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Shigeyoshi Matsumae
- Occupations
- politicianengineerteacher
- Biography
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Shigeyoshi Matsumae was a Japanese electrical engineer, inventor of the non-loaded cable carrier system, the Minister of the Ministry of Communications (Teishin-in, between August 30, 1945, and April 8, 1946), politician and the founder of Tokai University. He is also known as a patron of Yasuhiro Yamashita, a judo champion from Tokai University.
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Fujio Masuoka
- Occupations
- university teacher
- Biography
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Fujio Masuoka is a Japanese engineer, who has worked for Toshiba and Tohoku University, and is currently chief technical officer (CTO) of Unisantis Electronics. He is best known as the inventor of flash memory, including the development of both the NOR flash and NAND flash types in the 1980s. He also invented the first gate-all-around (GAA) MOSFET (GAAFET) transistor, an early non-planar 3D transistor, in 1988.
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Jun-ichi Nishizawa
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- Studied in 1948
- Occupations
- inventorphysicist
- Biography
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Jun-ichi Nishizawa was a Japanese engineer and inventor. He is known for his electronic inventions since the 1950s, including the PIN diode, static induction transistor, static induction thyristor, SIT/SITh. His inventions contributed to the development of internet technology and the information age.
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Masatoshi Shima
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- Studied in 1967
- Occupations
- engineercomputer scientistuniversity teacherchemist
- Biography
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Masatoshi Shima is a Japanese electronics engineer. He was one of the architects of the world's first microprocessor, the Intel 4004. In 1968, Shima worked for Busicom in Japan, and did the logic design for a specialized CPU to be translated into three-chip custom chips. In 1969, he worked with Intel's Ted Hoff and Stanley Mazor to reduce the three-chip Busicom proposal into a one-chip architecture. In 1970, that architecture was transformed into a silicon chip, the Intel 4004, by Federico Faggin, with Shima's assistance in logic design.
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Sumio Iijima
- Occupations
- chemistphysicistprofessor
- Biography
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Sumio Iijima is a Japanese physicist and inventor, often cited as the inventor of carbon nanotubes. Although carbon nanotubes had been observed prior to his "invention", Iijima's 1991 paper generated unprecedented interest in the carbon nanostructures and has since fueled intense research in the area of nanotechnology.
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Eisuke Mori
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Eisuke Mori is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. He is a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) and is the former Minister of Justice under Aso's Administration.
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Shizuo Kakutani
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- Studied in 1930-1934
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Shizuo Kakutani was a Japanese-American mathematician, best known for his eponymous fixed-point theorem.
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Akio Fukuda
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- In 1971 studied school of education
- Occupations
- politiciancivil servant
- Biography
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Akio Fukuda is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Imaichi, Tochigi and graduate of Tohoku University, he joined the city government of Imaichi in 1971 and became the mayor of the city in 1991, serving for three terms. He was elected to be the governor of Tochigi Prefecture in 2000 but lost his re-election in 2004. In 2005, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time.
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Emiko Okuyama
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Emiko Okuyama is a Japanese politician. She served as the mayor of Sendai from 2009 to 2017.
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Osamu Shimomura
- Occupations
- economist
- Biography
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Osamu Shimomura, born in Saga Prefecture, Kitagawa Village, was a Japanese economist considered to be the "father of the Japanese economic miracle".
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Yoshihisa Inoue
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- Studied engineering faculty
- Occupations
- reporterpolitician
- Biography
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Yoshihisa Inoue is a Japanese politician of the New Komeito Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Toyama, Toyama and graduate of Tohoku University, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1990. He lost his seat in 1993 but was re-elected in 1996.
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Masato Sagawa
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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Masato Sagawa is a Japanese scientist and entrepreneur, and the inventor of the sintered permanent neodymium magnet (NdFeB). Sagawa was awarded the Japan Prize and IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies for his efforts.
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Hitoshi Goto
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hitoshi Goto is a Japanese politician and former governor of Yamanashi Prefecture. He was formerly a Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). He resigned from the Democratic Party and the Diet in November 2014 so that he could contest the January 2015 Yamanashi Gubernatorial election as an independent. A native of Kōfu and graduate of Tohoku University with a Bachelor of Economics, he worked at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from 1980 to 1995.
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Chika Kuroda
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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Chika Kuroda was a Japanese chemist whose research focused on natural pigments. She was the first woman in Japan to receive a Bachelor of Science.
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Ryōji Chūbachi
- Occupations
- businesspersonentrepreneur
- Biography
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Ryōji Chūbachi is a Japanese businessman, former vice chairman and president of Sony Corporation. He joined the company in 1977, later replacing Kunitake Andō to become president of the firm March 7, 2005. He was replaced as president by Howard Stringer on April 1, 2009. Chūbachi retired from Sony on March 31, 2013. Currently he is the president of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), an independent administrative institution (agency) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
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Akira Endō
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- In 1966 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry
- Occupations
- biochemistagricultural chemistmicrobiologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Akira Endo is a Japanese biochemist whose research into the relationship between fungi and cholesterol biosynthesis led to the development of statin drugs, which are some of the best-selling pharmaceuticals in history.
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Shintaro Uda
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- Studied in 1924
- Occupations
- university teacherinventorengineer
- Biography
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Shintaro Uda was a Japanese inventor, and assistant to Professor Hidetsugu Yagi at Tohoku Imperial University, where together they invented the Yagi–Uda antenna in 1926.
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Yutaka Kumagai
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Yutaka Kumagai is a Japanese politician from the Liberal Democratic Party. As of 2014 he has served as member of the House of Councillors for the Miyagi at-large district.
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Sōichirō Itō
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Soichiro Ito was a Japanese politician whom served in the House of Representative from 1967 until his death in 2001. From 1981 to 1982, Ito was the Director General of the Japan Defense Agency.
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Shimaki Kensaku
- Occupations
- novelistwriter
- Biography
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Kensaku Shimaki was the pen-name of Asakura Kikuo (朝倉 菊雄), a Japanese author active during the Shōwa period in Japan. He had an interest in leftist ideology and was arrested in 1928 due to his ties to the Japanese Communist Party. Throughout his literary career, Shimaki wrote multiple novels and stories with a common theme being proletariat life. Some of his works were published by magazines and journals. He associated with Nobel laureate Kawabata Yasunari.
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Atsuto Suzuki
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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Atsuto Suzuki is an experimental particle physicist known for his observations of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos.
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Syun-Ichi Akasofu
- Occupations
- geophysicistearth scientistclimatologist
- Biography
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Syun-Ichi Akasofu is the founding director of the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), serving in that position from the center's establishment in 1998 until January 2007. Previously he had been director of the university's Geophysical Institute from 1986.
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Shun'ichi Iwasaki
- Years
- 1926-.. (age 98)
- Occupations
- university teacherelectrical engineeracademic
- Biography
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Shun-ichi Iwasaki is a Japanese engineer. He was professor at Tohoku University and then became president and of Tohoku Institute of Technology. He was also a professor at Lanzhou University (China). Iwasaki's pioneering work on perpendicular magnetic recording has been integral to the development of modern hard disk drives.
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Ume Tange
- Occupations
- teacher
- Biography
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Ume Tange (1873-1955) was one of the first three women admitted to a Japanese university in 1913. She previously studied at a women's college. After graduating from university, she traveled to the US to study, gaining a PhD in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1927, one of the first Japanese women awarded a doctorate in science. Tange returned to Japan to teach and do further research at RIKEN, studying vitamins, especially vitamin B2. She gained a second doctorate, in agricultural science, in 1940, from Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo).
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Liang Teck Meng
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Datuk Liang Teck Meng is a Malaysian politician and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Simpang Renggam constituency in the State of Johor (2008 - 2018). He was Secretary General for the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN), previously a component party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition (2013 - 2018).
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Akabori Shirō
- Enrolled in Tohoku University
- Studied in 1925
- Occupations
- biochemistuniversity teacherchemist
- Biography
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Shirō Akabori, 20 October 1900 – 3 November 1992 in Chihama, Ogasa (now Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture), was a Japanese chemist and university professor, known for the Akabori amino-acid reactions.
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Masatoshi Abe
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Masatoshi Abe was a Japanese politician who was a member of the Diet of Japan. He served as Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs under the government of Junichiro Koizumi.
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Tōru Takahashi
- Occupations
- businesspersoncomputer scientist
- Biography
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Toru Takahashi was a Japanese computer network researcher and businessman. He was credited with contributing to the spread of the Internet into Japan and the rest of Asia in the 1990s and was a pivotal figure in the early commercial development of the Internet. For this reason, he was often called the "Father of the Internet" in Japan.
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Hakaru Masumoto
- Occupations
- metallurgistengineer
- Biography
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Hakaru Masumoto was a pioneer in metal and alloy research. He discovered numerous superior and unique alloys, and contributed to improving the performance of precision machinery.
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Yoshihiro Nitta
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Yoshihiro Nitta was a Japanese university professor and philosopher. He is reputed as one of the greatest people to have influenced the Japanese philosophy.
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Ido Reizan
- Occupations
- journalistwriterpoet
- Biography
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Ido Reizan was a Japanese journalist, writer, poet, and liberal activist. He was involved in the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, which appears to have forced him into a nomadic lifestyle.
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Sukenari Yokoyama
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sukenari Yokoyama was a Japanese politician who served twice as governor of Hiroshima Prefecture in 1927–1928 and 1943–1944.
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Han Woong, Yeom
- Occupations
- researcherphysicist
- Biography
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Yeom Han-woong is a South Korean physicist. A tenured professor at POSTECH, he has led several research centers for the university and from 2013 in collaboration with the Institute for Basic Science. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has served as vice chairman of the Korean government's first science and technology advisory group for three consecutive terms. With more than 300 publications to his name, his research has been cited over 5,000 times giving him an h-index of 40 and i10-index of 125.
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Saidur Rahman (professor)
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Saidur Rahman is a computer scientist, graph theorist, and professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
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Shizuo Satō
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Shizuo Satō was a Japanese politician. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he served in the House of Councillors from 1992 to 1998. He died from a myocardial infarction on 16 January 2022, at the age of 90.
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Takeshi Imamura
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Takeshi Imamura was Director of the Karafuto Agency (1932–1938) and Mayor of Sendai (1942–1946). He was a graduate of the University of Tokyo and Tohoku University. He was a member of the Korean History Compilation Committee.
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Eisuke Hinode
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Eisuke Hinode was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature) and the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs. A native of Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, he graduated from Tohoku University in 1964. He was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1998.
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Takao Watanabe
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Takao Watanabe is a Japanese politician of the New Komeito Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Ishioka, Ibaraki and graduate of Tohoku University, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1995.
