Hirohito Gotō (後藤 ひろひと, Gotō Hirohito; born February 23, 1969) is a Japanese director, playwright, and actor. Born in…
Hirohito Gotō (後藤 ひろひと, Gotō Hirohito; born February 23, 1969) is a Japanese director, playwright, and actor. Born in Yamagata prefecture, he graduated from Yamagata Prefectural Yamagata East High School and dropped out of Hindi studies from Osaka University of Foreign Studies. In 1987 he joined the theater group Yūkisha. By 1989 he served as the second head of the group and handled nearly all productions. After retiring from Yūkisha in 1996, he worked as a free playwright, and in 1998 created Piper with Kawashita Taiyō of former Gekidan Sotoba Komachi fame. In 2001 he began the Royal Theater. His plays have a reputation for having a unique view of the world as well as for stories of a massive scale. Primary works include Ningen Fūsha (人間風車), Moldman the Bellringer in Dublin (ダブリンの鐘つきカビ人間), and the Big / Bigger / Biggest Biz trilogy.
Famous Alumni of Osaka University of Foreign Studies
Osaka University of Foreign Studies: 14 people
Julie Dreyfus (born 24 January 1966) is a French actress. In Japan, she made her television debut on a French-language…
Julie Dreyfus (born 24 January 1966) is a French actress. In Japan, she made her television debut on a French-language lesson program on NHK's educational channel in the late 1980s. She has appeared on the TV show Ryōri no Tetsujin (Iron Chef) as a guest and judge. She appeared in the Quentin Tarantino films Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Inglourious Basterds, portraying Sofie Fatale and Francesca Mondino respectively. Aside from her native French, she is fluent in English, German, and Japanese.
Leiko Ikemura (イケムラレイコ, Ikemura Reiko; born 22 August 1951 in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese-Swiss artist…
Leiko Ikemura (イケムラレイコ, Ikemura Reiko; born 22 August 1951 in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese-Swiss artist who works in a variety of mediums, including oil painting, sculpture, and watercolor. She divides her time between Cologne and Berlin, teaching painting at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Active on the international art scene since the 1970s, she is known for her work within the Neo-Expressionism movement of the 1980s, as well as her continually evolving style. Much of her oeuvre features elements of symbolism, involving the creation of magical universes blend elements of her animals, humans, and plants. Her work has been featured in a number of solo exhibitions in Japan and Europe, and is held in the permanent collections of major institutions such at the Centre Pompidou, Kunstmuseum Basel, Kunstmuseum Bern, Kunsthaus Zurich, and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. In 2023, she had her first solo exhibition in Mexico at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan.
Hiromichi Mori (森 博達, Mori Hiromichi; born in 1949) is a Japanese linguist. He makes a study of Chinese phonology and…
Hiromichi Mori (森 博達, Mori Hiromichi; born in 1949) is a Japanese linguist. He makes a study of Chinese phonology and of Old Japanese transcribed into Chinese characters by sound.
Akio Nakajima (Japanese: 中島章夫; 27 January 1936 – 8 June 2024) was a Japanese politician. As a member of the Japan New…
Akio Nakajima (Japanese: 中島章夫; 27 January 1936 – 8 June 2024) was a Japanese politician. As a member of the Japan New Party, the New Party Sakigake, and the Democratic Party, he served in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996 and in the House of Councillors from 2003 to 2004.
Tōru Ohno (大野 徹, Ohno Tōru; 1935 – 7 October 2022) was a Japanese scholar of Burmese. He was an emeritus professor at…
Tōru Ohno (大野 徹, Ohno Tōru; 1935 – 7 October 2022) was a Japanese scholar of Burmese. He was an emeritus professor at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies, where he served for many years as chairman of the Burmese department. He graduated from the same university with a major in the Burmese language. He taught at Osaka University of Foreign Studies from 1965 to 2001, starting his career as an assistant professor.
Toshio Masuda (舛田 利雄, Masuda Toshio; October 5, 1927 – August 26, 2026) was a Japanese film director, screenwriter and…
Toshio Masuda (舛田 利雄, Masuda Toshio; October 5, 1927 – August 26, 2026) was a Japanese film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He developed a reputation as a consistent box office hit-maker. Over the course of five decades, 16 of his films made the yearly top ten lists at the Japanese box office—a second place record in the industry. Between 1958 and 1968 he directed 52 films for the Nikkatsu Company. Masuda was their top director of action films and worked with the company's top stars, including Yujiro Ishihara with whom he made 25 films. After the breakdown of the studio system, he moved on to a succession of big-budget movies including the American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and the disaster epic Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974). He worked on such anime productions as the Space Battleship Yamato series. His corporate drama Company Funeral (1989) earned him a Japanese Academy Award nomination and wins at the Blue Ribbon Awards and Mainichi Film Awards. In Japan, his films are well-remembered by fans and called genre landmarks by critics. He remains little known abroad save for rare exceptions of his post-Nikkatsu work such as Tora! Tora! Tora!. However, a number of his films were screened in a 2005 Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective in Italy, and a few have since made their way to the United States. In 2009, he helped produce Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection.
Chin Shunshin or Chen Shunchen (陳 舜臣) (18 February 1924 – 21 January 2015) was a Taiwanese-Japanese novelist…
Chin Shunshin or Chen Shunchen (陳 舜臣) (18 February 1924 – 21 January 2015) was a Taiwanese-Japanese novelist, translator and cultural critic. He is best known for his historical fictions and mystery novels based on Chinese and Asian history, including First Opium War, Chinese History, Ryukyu Wind. He won numerous literary awards, including the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature and the Naoki Prize.
Teiichi Fukuda (福田 定一; August 7, 1923 – February 12, 1996), also known as Ryōtarō Shiba (司馬 遼太郎), was a Japanese…
Teiichi Fukuda (福田 定一; August 7, 1923 – February 12, 1996), also known as Ryōtarō Shiba (司馬 遼太郎), was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the rest of the world.
Junzō Shōno (庄野 潤三, Shōno Junzō; 9 February 1921 – 21 September 2009) was a Japanese novelist. A native of Osaka, he…
Junzō Shōno (庄野 潤三, Shōno Junzō; 9 February 1921 – 21 September 2009) was a Japanese novelist. A native of Osaka, he began writing novels after World War II. He won the 1954 Akutagawa Prize for his book Purusaido Shokei (Poolside Scene). Shōno's other award-winning books include Seibutsu (Still Life), for which he won the Shinchosha literary prize, Yube no Kumo (Evening Clouds), which was awarded the 1965 Yomiuri Prize, and Eawase (Picture Cards) which took the Noma literary prize.
Osamu Shimizu (Japanese: 清水 脩, Shimizu Osamu) (4 November 1911, Tennōji-ku, Osaka – 29 October 1986, Tokyo) was a…
Osamu Shimizu (Japanese: 清水 脩, Shimizu Osamu) (4 November 1911, Tennōji-ku, Osaka – 29 October 1986, Tokyo) was a Japanese composer.
Rintaro Ishibashi (石橋林太郎, Ishibashi Rintaro; born 2 May 1978) is a Japanese politician serving as a member of the House…
Rintaro Ishibashi (石橋林太郎, Ishibashi Rintaro; born 2 May 1978) is a Japanese politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. From 2015 to 2021, he was a member of the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly.
Shiho Niiyama (新山 志保, Niiyama Shiho; March 21, 1970 – February 7, 2000) was a Japanese voice actress from Matsuyama…
Shiho Niiyama (新山 志保, Niiyama Shiho; March 21, 1970 – February 7, 2000) was a Japanese voice actress from Matsuyama, Ehime, affiliated with Aoni Production at the time of her death. Niiyama was most known for her roles as Kou Seiya/Sailor Star Fighter in the Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon series, Risa Kanzaki in Neighborhood Story, Suou Takamura in Clamp School Detectives, and Deedlit in Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. She was also involved in the voice actor group Virgo, who were the voice actresses in the anime and game Ojōsama Sōsamō. Niiyama was diagnosed with leukemia in 1998 and later underwent a bone marrow transplant on February 7, 2000. At approximately 6:23 A.M., Niiyama suffered a bout of internal bleeding in her lung and died as a result of complications from leukemia. Niiyama was 29 years old at the time of her death. Her final performance was in the TV series Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight as the voice of Deedlit.
Alfonso Falero Folgoso is a Spanish japanologist born in Granada in 1959. He is an expert on the history of Japanese…
Alfonso Falero Folgoso is a Spanish japanologist born in Granada in 1959. He is an expert on the history of Japanese thinking and the Shintō religion.