is an 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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

's public broadcaster. She currently anchors NHK's ''

Close-up Gendai , Also known as ''Today's Close-Up'', is a current affairs television programme produced by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The programme broadcasts on Mondays through Wednesdays at 19:30 - 19:57 ( UTC+9) on NHK G channel, which also airs o ...

'' current affairs program. Kuwako was born, raised, and educated in Kawasaki,

, and graduated from the School of Language and Culture Studies,

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies , often referred to as TUFS, is a specialist research university in Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan. TUFS is primarily devoted to foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies. It also features an Asia-African institution. History The Uni ...

(TUFS), where she majored in the Czech language.

Career

Hired by NHK following her 2010 graduation from TUFS, Kuwako began her career at NHK

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, where she served three years as a temporary correspondent and a host for local programs. She then served in a similar capacity at NHK

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

; ''Waratchao!'', a program for preschoolers, was the first program to feature her regularly. In 2015 Kuwako was assigned to Tokyo and appointed to serve as the host's "assistant" (sidekick) on NHK's much-watched ''

Bura Tamori ）is a Japanese weekly geographical TV series broadcast domestically on NHK General Television and internationally on NHK World Premium hosted by Tamori. It started in 2008. In the program, Tamori, accompanied by NHK's female broadcaster, stro ...

'' travelogue, a move that boosted her profile nationally. She also appeared as a presenter on news shows like ''

NHK News 7 is the early evening news program broadcast domestically on NHK General TV and internationally on NHK World Premium. It has been on the air daily since April 5, 1993, from 7:00pm to 7:30pm ( JST).

'' and ''Shutoken News 845''. Later Kuwako anchored ''News Check 11'' with Yoshio Arima from April 2016 to March 2017, and from April she and Arima began anchoring ''

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 ...

''. She stepped down from ''News Watch 9'' in April 2020 and, trading places with

Mayuko Wakuda is a Japanese female announcer and news anchor for NHK. Wakuda previously is one of the anchors hosting NHK General TV's primetime news program ''News Watch 9''. Early years Wakuda was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. At age two, she moved ...

, began anchoring ''

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 ...

'', an early-morning news program.　In 2020, Kuwako narrated the closing travelogue segment of the year's Taiga Drama, ''Kirin ga Kuru'' (English title: ''Awaiting Kirin''), and starting hosting with

Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. With th ...

the infotainment show ''Takeshi no Sonotoki Camera wa Mawatte Ita'' (''Takeshi Presents: Camera Was Rolling At That Time''). NHK announced on February 9, 2022, that Kuwako would leave ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' in April and begin hosting a revived version of ''

'', an in-depth current affairs program.

Personal life

Kuwako married Shinichi Tanioka, a

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

announcer, on her 30th birthday, May 30, 2017, but ''Sankei Sports'', a tabloid, reported that the couple had divorced just a year later. Kuwako married actor

Yukiyoshi Ozawa is an American-born Japanese actor. Biography His father is conductor Seiji Ozawa. His mother is former model and actress Miki Irie. His sister is essayist Seira Ozawa. His cousin is musician Kenji Ozawa. He graduated from Seijo Gakuen Primar ...

on September 1, 2021.

Filmography

Current programs

Previous programs

NHK Nagano (2010 – 2012)

=Television

=Radio

NHK Hiroshima (2013 – 2015)

NHK Tokyo (2015 – present)

References

External links

Maho Kuwako at NHK Tokyo
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuwako, Maho 1987 births Living people Tokyo University of Foreign Studies alumni Japanese announcers Japanese television personalities Japanese television presenters Japanese women television presenters People from Kawasaki, Kanagawa