41 Notable alumni of
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Updated:
Tokyo Institute of Technology is 461st in the world, 92nd in Asia, and 38th in Japan by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 41 notable alumni from Tokyo Institute of Technology sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 1 individual affiliated with Tokyo Institute of Technology won Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine.
-
Satoru Iwata
- Occupations
- game programmerentrepreneurvideo game producerexecutive producerengineer
- Biography
-
Satoru Iwata was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer and producer. Beginning in 2002, he was the fourth president of Nintendo, as well as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo of America from 2013 until his death in 2015. Iwata was a major contributor in broadening the appeal of video games by focusing on novel and entertaining games rather than top-of-the-line hardware.
-
Naoto Kan
- Occupations
- university teachertheoretical physicistpolitician
- Biography
-
Naoto Kan is a Japanese former politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011.
-
Yoshinori Ohsumi
- Occupations
- biologist
- Biography
-
Yoshinori Ohsumi is a Japanese cell biologist specializing in autophagy, the process that cells use to destroy and recycle cellular components.
-
Masao Yoshida
- Occupations
- engineer
- Biography
-
Masao Yoshida was a nuclear engineer who served as plant manager of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant during the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
-
Tetsuo Saito
- Enrolled in Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Studied applied physics
- Occupations
- engineerpolitician
- Biography
-
Tetsuo Saito is a Japanese politician who served as chief representative of the Komeito from 2024 to 2026. He served as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism from 2021 to 2024 and Minister of the Environment from 2008 to 2009.
-
Takaaki Yoshimoto
- Occupations
- writerpoetliterary criticphilosopher
- Biography
-
Takaaki Yoshimoto, also known as Ryūmei Yoshimoto, was a Japanese poet, philosopher, and literary critic. As a philosopher, he is remembered as a founding figure in the emergence of the New Left in Japan, and as a critic, he was at the forefront of a movement to force writers to confront their responsibility as wartime collaborators.
-
Julia Nesheiwat
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitician
- Biography
-
Julia Nesheiwat is an American academic, business executive, and former government official who served as the 10th homeland security advisor in the first Trump administration from 2020 to 2021. She also held various positions in the Bush and Obama administrations.
-
Toshiwo Doko
- Occupations
- businesspersonengineer
- Biography
-
Toshiwo Doko was a Japanese engineer born in Mitsu District, Okayama, Manager, President and Chairman of Ishikawajima Heavy Industry (IHI) and Toshiba.
-
Hideki Shirakawa
- Occupations
- academicengineerprofessorchemist
- Biography
-
Hideki Shirakawa is a Japanese chemist, engineer, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tsukuba and Zhejiang University. He is best known for his discovery of conductive polymers. He was co-recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger.
-
Akitoshi Kawazu
- Occupations
- video game directorgame designer
- Biography
-
Akitoshi Kawazu is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and writer. After joining Square (later Square Enix) in 1985, he went on to become a central developer for the first two Final Fantasy titles, then acted as creator and lead developer for the SaGa series.
-
Kenjirō Takayanagi
- Occupations
- pioneerengineerinventor
- Biography
-
Kenjiro Takayanagi was a Japanese engineer and a pioneer in the development of television. Although he failed to gain much recognition in the West, he built the world's first all-electronic television receiver, and is referred to as "the father of Japanese television".
-
Kenzo Fujisue
- Occupations
- politicianresearcher
- Biography
-
Kenzo Fujisue is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kumamoto, Kumamoto, he graduated from Tokyo Institute of Technology and received master's degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in the United States. He was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 2004 when he left an assistant professorship at the University of Tokyo.
-
Shōji Hamada
- Occupations
- ceramicistpotterartist
- Biography
-
Shōji Hamada was a Japanese potter. He had a significant influence on studio pottery of the twentieth century, and a major figure of the mingei (folk-art) movement, establishing the town of Mashiko as a pottery centre. In 1955 he was designated a "Living National Treasure".
-
Kawai Kanjirō
- Enrolled in Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Studied in 1914
- Occupations
- ceramicistessayist
- Biography
-
Kawai Kanjirō was a Japanese potter and a key figure in mingei (Japanese folk art) and studio pottery movements, which included Bernard Leach, Shōji Hamada, Kenkichi Tomimoto, Shikō Munakata, Keisuke Serizawa, and Tatsuzō Shimaoka, among others.
-
Keitaro Ohno
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Keitarō Ohno is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. He is currently serving as Deputy Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. He has served as State Minister of Cabinet Office in charge of Economic Security, Disaster Management, Space Policy, Science and Technology, etc, from 2021 to 2022, Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defense from 2017 to 2018, acting director of Foreign Policy Division and Deputy Chief Secretary of Security Research Committee from 2018 to 2019. He has been representing Kagawa 3rd district in the House of Representatives.
-
Rin Yamashita
- Enrolled in Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Studied in 1876
- Occupations
- paintericonographer
- Biography
-
Yamashita Rin was a painter of icons for the Japanese Orthodox Church. She was one of the first independent Japanese female artists, the first recognized female yōga painter. She studied in Russia, and her work can be found in over forty churches across Japan.
-
Keisuke Serizawa
- Occupations
- artist
- Biography
-
Keisuke Serizawa was a Japanese textile designer. In 1956, he was designated as a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government for his katazome stencil dyeing technique. A leading member of the mingei movement founded by Yanagi Sōetsu, Serizawa visited Okinawa several times and learned the Ryūkyū bingata techniques of dyeing. Chōsuke Serizawa (Archaeologist) was his son.
-
Ryūsuke Hikawa
- Occupations
- criticediting staff
- Biography
-
Ryūsuke Hikawa is a Japanese anime critic and writer.
-
Nob Yoshigahara
- Occupations
- puzzle designer
- Biography
-
Nobuyuki Yoshigahara was a Japanese inventor, collector, solver, and communicator of puzzles.
-
Park Kyung-won
- Occupations
- aircraft pilot
- Biography
-
Park Kyung-won was the first female Korean civilian aviator.
-
Teruaki Mukaiyama
- Occupations
- university teacherchemist
- Biography
-
Teruaki Mukaiyama was a Japanese organic chemist. One of the most prolific chemists of the 20th century in the field of organic synthesis, Mukaiyama helped establish the field of organic chemistry in Japan after World War II.
-
Toshikazu Sunada
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Toshikazu Sunada is a Japanese mathematician and author of many books and essays on mathematics and mathematical sciences. He is professor emeritus of both Meiji University and Tohoku University. He is also distinguished professor of emeritus at Meiji in recognition of achievement over the course of an academic career. Before he joined Meiji University in 2003, he was professor of mathematics at Nagoya University (1988–1991), at the University of Tokyo (1991–1993), and at Tohoku University (1993–2003). Sunada was involved in the creation of the School of Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences at Meiji University and is its first dean (2013–2017). Since 2019, he is President of Mathematics Education Society of Japan.
-
Haruji Matsue
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
Haruji Matsue was a Japanese entrepreneur and the first person to manufacture the sugar cube in Japan. His brother, Major General Toyohisa Matsue, was commandant of the Bandō prisoner-of-war camp in World War I.
-
Eiichi Nakamura
- Enrolled in Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- researcherchemist
- Biography
-
Eiichi Nakamura is a Japanese chemist and professor of chemistry at University of Tokyo in Japan, also appointed as lecture profession in Nankai University in Tianjin, China from Sep 2025.
-
Yoshihisa Yamamoto
- Occupations
- academicphysicistelectrical engineeruniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Yoshihisa Yamamoto is the director of Physics & Informatics Laboratories (PHI Labs), NTT Research, Inc. He is also Professor (Emeritus) at Stanford University and National Institute of Informatics (Tokyo).
-
Jiro Tanaka
- Occupations
- military flight engineermilitary personnelengineer
- Biography
-
Jiro Tanaka was a Japanese aircraft and automotive engineer.
-
Yasuharu Suematsu
- Occupations
- computer scientistphysicist
- Biography
-
Yasuharu Suematsu is a Japanese electrical engineer who is recognised for his contributions to developments in fiber-optic communication technology. His research in the field of electromagnetic radiation concerning dynamic single-mode lasers has also been cited in several academic and technical studies. Suematsu is professor emeritus at the Institute of Science Tokyo.
-
Takumi Shibano
- Occupations
- science fiction writerwritertranslator
- Biography
-
Takumi Shibano was a Japanese science-fiction translator and author. He was a major figure in fandom in Japan and contributed to establishing the Japanese science fiction genre.
-
Tadamichi Yamamoto
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
-
Tadamichi Yamamoto is a diplomat, who served as UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) until replaced by Deborah Lyons in March 2020.
-
Susumu Sakurai
- Occupations
- scientist
- Biography
-
Susumu Sakurai is a Japanese scientist and science navigator. He was born in Yamagata Prefecture. He is the president of sakurAi Science Factory Inc.
-
Tadao Takahashi
- Occupations
- computer scientist
- Biography
-
Eduardo Tadao Takahashi was a Brazilian computer scientist and researcher who was credited with contributions toward planning, deployment, and adoption of the internet in Brazil and other Latin American countries. He was a founding director of Brazil's National Research Network (RNP), an academic network that coordinated actions toward setting up the country's national internet backbone. He was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2017.
-
Du Zhongyuan
- Years
- 1895-1943 (aged 48)
- Enrolled in Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Studied in 1917
- Occupations
- entrepreneuractivist
- Biography
-
Du Zhongyuan was one of China's best-known wartime journalists, having reported in great detail on the Japanese invasion and occupation of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
-
Sethu Vijayakumar
- Years
- 1970-.. (age 56)
- Occupations
- academicroboticist
- Biography
-
Sethu Vijayakumar is Professor of Robotics at the University of Edinburgh and a judge on the BBC2 show Robot Wars. He is the programme co-director for Artificial Intelligence at The Alan Turing Institute, the UK's National Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, with the responsibility for defining and driving the institute's Robotics and Autonomous Systems agenda. He co-founded the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics in 2015 and was instrumental in bringing the first NASA Valkyrie humanoid robot out of the United States of America, and to Europe, where is it a focus of research at the School of Informatics. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2013.
-
Sarangadhar Das
- Years
- 1887-1957 (aged 70)
- Occupations
- writerpolitician
- Biography
-
Sarangadhar Das was an Indian nationalist revolutionary and Orissa politician. Das fought against the feudal chiefs in Orissa (present day Odisha) and, post-independence, was a member of India's Constituent Assembly, a Member of Parliament, and a leader of the Socialist Party.
-
Su Tiren
- Years
- 1888-1979 (aged 91)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Su Tiren was a Republic of China politician who served with the Wang Jingwei regime during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
-
Katsuhiko Ariga
- Occupations
- academicchemist
- Biography
-
Katsuhiko Ariga is a Japanese chemist specializing in nanotechnology and self-assembly. He was educated at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he defended his PhD in 1990 and later worked as assistant professor. Since 2004 he carries out research at the National Institute for Materials Science, and teaches at the University of Tokyo, where he is a full professor. Ariga is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2013) and an editor of the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.
-
Zhuchen Li
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Li Zhuchen was a Chinese male politician, who served as the vice chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
-
Zhu Qinglai
- Years
- 1881-..
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Zhu Qinglai was a politician in the Republic of China. He was an important politician during the Wang Jingwei regime (Republic of China-Nanjing. His given name was Xiang (翔), but he was better known by his art-name Qinglai. He disappeared after the collapse of the Wang Jingwei regime.
-
Jin-Ho Choy
- Occupations
- researcherchemist
- Biography
-
Choy Jin-ho is a South Korean scientist. He was a professor in the department of chemistry at Seoul National University from 1981 to 2004, and thereafter a distinguished professor and director of the Center for Intelligent Nano-Bio Materials (CINBM) at Ewha Womans University.
-
Liu Shiying
- Occupations
- educator
- Biography
-
Liu Shiying, also known as Feixiong, was a Chinese architect and educator. Liu Shiying had five major contributions to the history of Chinese architecture:
-
Maria Marta Molinas Cabrera
- Enrolled in Tokyo Institute of Technology
- 1997-2001 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- university teacher
- Biography
-
María Marta Molinas Cabrera is a Paraguayan electrical engineer, educated in Japan, who works in Norway as a professor of engineering cybernetics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
