This is a list of notable alumni, faculty, and students, from Waseda University. Those individuals who qualify for multiple categories have been placed under the section for which they are best known.

Prime ministers

Tanzan Ishibashi was a Japanese journalist, Nichiren Buddhist priest, and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan for two months from 1956 to 1957, before resigning due to illness. He simultaneously served as Director General of the Japan Defense Agency. Fr ...

(1956–1957) * Noboru Takeshita (1987–1989) *

Toshiki Kaifu was a Japanese politician who served as the 77th Prime Minister of Japan from 1989 to 1991. Early life and education Kaifu was born on 2 January 1931, in Nagoya City, the eldest of six brothers. His family's business Nakamura Photo Studio wa ...

(1989–1991) *

Keizō Obuchi was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000. Obuchi was elected to the House of Representatives in Gunma Prefecture in 1963, becoming the youngest legislator in Japanese history, and was re-elected to his ...

(1998–2000) *

Mikio Aoki is a Japanese politician who served as the Chief Cabinet Secretary from 1999 to 2000, and was briefly Acting Prime Minister following Keizo Obuchi’s coma. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he also served as the Chairman of the LDP i ...

(Acting: 2000-2000) * Yoshirō Mori (2000–2001) *

Yasuo Fukuda is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō M ...

(2007–2008) *

Yoshihiko Noda is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 2011 to 2012. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and a member of the House of Representatives (lower house) in the Diet (national legislature). He was named to succeed Naoto K ...

(2011–2012) *

Fumio Kishida is a Japanese politician serving as Prime Minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and ...

(2021- present)

Politics

Diplomats

* Chiune Sugihara * Tsuneo Koizumi * Katsuhiko Oku – rugby player and diplomat, promoted posthumously to ambassador

Business leaders

Academics

Authors

Journalists

* Soichiro Tawara * Yoh Henmi * Satoshi Kamata * Chang Deok-soo

Performing arts

* Jerome Polin - YouTubers

Scientists

Shingo Futamura Shingo Futamura (April 3, 1938 -) is a rubber industry materials scientist noted for his concept of the deformation index. Education Futamura completed his undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree at Waseda University in Japan. He earned a m ...

- rubber industry scientist

Sports

Baseball

Figure skating

* Shizuka Arakawa –

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

gold medalist *

Rena Inoue is a Japanese-born American retired pair skater. With partner John Baldwin, she is the 2004 and 2006 U.S. National Champion. Inoue previously competed for Japan as both a single skater and pair skater. Inoue and Baldwin are the first skaters t ...

–

Pairs skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

Yukari Nakano is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is the 2006 Four Continents silver medalist, the 2003 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2005–06 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2007 Asian Winter Games champion, and a three-time ...

Fumie Suguri is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is a three-time World medalist, a three-time Four Continents champion, the 2003 Grand Prix Final champion, and a five-time Japanese national champion. Personal life Suguri was born in Chiba, ...

* Yuzuru Hanyu – Men's singles

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Winter Olympics gold medalist and two-times

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Football

Kunishige Kamamoto is a former Japanese football player, manager and politician. He won the bronze medal with the Japan national team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, finishing as the tournament's top scorer with seven goals, and is the all-time leading ...

* Saburo Kawabuchi – ex-President of Japan football association and ex-Chairman of Japan professional soccer league

Martial arts

Rugby

Katsuyuki Kiyomiya is a notable Japanese rugby union coach, formerly of Waseda University RFC (2001–06) and now (since 2006) of Suntory Sungoliath. Many in Japan had hoped he would coach the national side in the future however after he criticized the then cur ...

– player and coach *

Hiroaki Shukuzawa was a Japanese rugby union player and coach, who coached the Japan national rugby union team between 1989 and 1991. As a player, he was capped three times by Japan as a scrum-half, and he also advised the Japan Rugby Football Union. He also h ...

– player and coach * Ayumu Goromaru *

Yoshikazu Fujita Yoshikazu Fujita (藤田慶和, born 8 September 1993 in Kyoto) is a Japanese international rugby union player. After impressing the coaches with his form playing for the Japan sevens team, Fujita was selected for the Japan national rugby uni ...

Swimming

Volleyball

* Yoko Zetterlund – Former player of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_women%27s_national_volleyball_team *

Ryuta Homma is a Japanese male Volleyball player. On club level, he captained JTEKT Stings team, in V.League Division 1, since 2019–20 season. He is a former member of the Japan men's national volleyball team. Career When he was in elementary schoo ...

– Former roster of men's national volleyball team and currently active in V.League Division 1 *

Taichi Fukuyama is a Japanese volleyball player. He currently plays for Japan national team and JTEKT Stings in V.League Division 1. He was the captain of the Waseda University volleyball club and the Japanese national team at the 2017 Eastern Asian Men's V ...

– Current roster of men's national volleyball team * Yuto Fujinaka – Former roster of Japan U-21 and U-23 national volleyball team and currently active in V.League Division 1 * Mitsuki Kobayashi – Former roster of Japan U-21 and universiade national team, competing in

2019 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 118 , Athletes participating = 5,971 , Events = 220 , Sports = 18 , Opening ceremony = 3 July , Closing ceremony = 14 July , Officially opened by = President Se ...

. Currently active in V.League Division 1 *

Kento Miyaura Kento Miyaura (宮浦健人, born 22 February 1999) is a Japanese male volleyball player from Kumamoto City, on the island of Kyushu. Currently, he plays in LNV Ligue A Masculine for Paris Volley. He used to be the captain of Japan U-19 team an ...

– Current roster of men's national volleyball team * Otsuka Tatsunori – Current roster of men's national volleyball team

Miscellaneous

Other

Notable current students

Sports

Tatsuki Machida (born March 9, 1990) is a Japanese retired figure skater. He is the 2014 World silver medalist, the 2010 Four Continents silver medalist, and the 2013–14 Japanese national silver medalist. Machida is the winner of four Grand Prix events — ...

–

Figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

Shingo Nishiyama is a Japanese ice dancer. With his skating partner, Ayumi Takanami, he is the 2022 Japanese national bronze medalist. With his former skating partner, Utana Yoshida, he is a two-time Japanese national junior ice dance champion (2020, 2021) an ...

– Figure skater *

Rika Kihira Rika Kihira ( ja, 紀平梨花; born 21 July 2002) is a Japanese figure skater. She is a two-time Four Continents champion (2019, 2020), the 2018 Grand Prix Final champion, a four-time Grand Prix series medalist (2018 NHK Trophy gold, 2018 Inter ...

– Figure skater * Miyabi Onitsuka – Snowboarder * Kanako Watanabe –

Swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

* Ippei Watanabe – Swimmer * Tatsunori Otsuka – Men's national

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player, being a part of 2020 Olympics men's tournament

Performing arts

Jyongri Jyongri (born August 30, 1988) is a Japanese pop singer of Korean ancestry currently signed with EMI Music Japan. Biography Background and early life Jyongri attended Osaka International School, and is fluent in both English and Japanes ...

– singer * Natsuki Sato – idol singer, former member of

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

Yui Ogura is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Gunma Prefecture. Career In 2009, Ogura performed the motion capture for Hatsune Miku in the game '' Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA''. Ogura was a member of the Japanese idol duo YuiKaori with Kaori ...

– voice actor, roles include Toki Onjōji ( Saki Achiga-hen Episode of Side-A)

Notable faculty members

Principals, ''de facto'' presidents (1907–1923), and presidents

Principals

* Hidemaro Ōkuma, 1882–1886 * Hisoka Maejima, 1886–1890 *

Kazuo Hatoyama was the patriarchal head of the prominent Japanese Hatoyama political family which has been called "Japan's Kennedy family." Early life and education Hatoyama was born to a samurai family of the Katsuyama clan in present-day Minato, Tokyo. ...

, 1890–1907

''De facto'' presidents (1907–1923)

* Sanae Takata, 1907–1915 * Tameyuki Amano, 1915–1917 * Yoshiro Hiranuma, 1918–1921 * Masasada Shiozawa, 1921–1923

Presidents

Trustees

* Ryuhoku Narushima, poet, journalist, and one of the first trustees of Waseda * Azusa Ono (1852–1886), law scholar and one of the first trustees of Waseda

Benefactors

Waseda University has had numerous benefactors, including:

References

External links

Waseda University Alumni Association (WUAA) website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waseda University People Lists of people by university or college in Japan Tokyo-related lists *