is a Japanese female announcer and

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

for

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

. Wakuda previously is one of the anchors hosting

NHK General TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK G, is the main television service of NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster. Its programming includes news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime, and specials which compete directly with the output of its ...

's primetime news program ''

News Watch 9 , stylized as ''NEWS WATCH 9'' is the flagship evening news program of the public Japanese broadcaster, NHK. It airs weekdays on NHK General Television and worldwide on NHK World Premium and is also available on the networks video-on-demand servi ...

''.

Early years

Wakuda was born in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. At age two, she moved with her family to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. She returned to Japan when she was five years old, and was raised in Kawasaki and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. Wakuda attended Joshigakuin Junior & Senior High School in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, graduating in 2007, where she belonged to a performing arts club and played straight plays and musicals in English language. She then went to

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, one of Japan's most prestigious universities, from which she received the

BEc BEC may refer to: As an acronym House * Bapatla Engineering College * Basaveshwar Engineering College * Bengal Engineering College Curriculum * Business Environment and Concepts, a section of Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination * Bus ...

degree in March 2011. As an undergraduate, she was a manager and trainer of the university's men's lacrosse club.

Career

After graduating from University of Tokyo in 2011, Wakuda was hired by NHK. Several months later she was sent to NHK Okayama Branch where she started her career as a broadcaster. In April 2014, Wakuda was relocated to Tokyo Announcement Room and appointed to a weekend & holiday newscaster of the morning news show ''

NHK News Ohayō Nippon ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' （ ja, NHKニュースおはよう日本, en, NHK News Good Morning Japan）is a Japanese morning television show on NHK General TV, anchored mainly by Masayuki Sanjo and Nachiko Shudo, from the NHK studios at NHK ...

''. One year later she became a weekday anchor of the show, starring every weekday from 6:00 am to 8:00 am JST. On January 17, 2015, Wakuda was reporting from

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

, Japan, which the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake hit on that day 20 years before. In May 2017, Wakuda conducted an interview with

Masayoshi Yoshino is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Iwaki, Fukushima and graduate of Waseda University, he was elected to the first of his three term ...

, the minister responsible for disaster reconstruction in the Tohoku Region. In August 2017, she also interviewed with each minister newly chosen by Japanese Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

in those days. Each interview was broadcast on ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' in the end of the month. In the beginning of September 2018, Wakuda, together with

Yurie Omi is a Japanese former announcer and news presenter, news anchor for NHK. She left NHK in March 2021. She was famous for being the co-host of NHK's morning talk show ''Asaichi'' as well as its geological television series ''Bura Tamori''. Early ...

, conducted an exclusive interview with

Namie Amuro Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...

, one of Japan's leading pop singers who was planning to end her musical career on September 16, 2018. This interview aired in ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' on September 10, 2018. NHK announced on February 13, 2020, that Wakuda would be stepping back from ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' and move to ''

'' in April 2020. The anchor of ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' was handed over to

Maho Kuwako is an announcer and news anchor at NHK, Japan's public broadcaster. She currently anchors NHK's ''Close-up Gendai'' current affairs program. Kuwako was born, raised, and educated in Kawasaki, Japan, and graduated from the School of Language an ...

, who was at that time one of the anchors of ''News Watch 9''. NHK announced on February 10, 2022, that Wakuda would be stepping down from ''News Watch 9'' and she will be in charge of special features and narration in April 2022. The anchor of ''News Watch 9'' was handed over to Izumi Yamauchi, who was at that time one of the anchors of ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon''.

Personal life

It was reported that Wakuda had got married early in 2019 with a man whose name was not disclosed.

References

External links

Mayuko Wakuda, NHK Announcement Room , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakuda, Mayuko 1988 births Living people University of Tokyo alumni Japanese announcers Japanese television personalities Japanese television presenters Japanese women television presenters People from Kanagawa Prefecture

Early years

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links