Kin Sugai (菅井きん, Sugai Kin) (28 February 1926 – 10 August 2018) was a Japanese actress. She won the award for best…
Kin Sugai (菅井きん, Sugai Kin) (28 February 1926 – 10 August 2018) was a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 9th Hochi Film Award for The Funeral. Sugai is famous for her role as Sen Nakamura in the jidaigeki drama Hissatsu series. She won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 8th Japan Academy Film Prize for her role in The Funeral. In 2008, she landed lead role for the first time in the Hideo Sakai film ぼくのおばあちゃん (Hepburn: Boku no Obaachan) at the age of 82, and was certified as Guinness as "the world's oldest movie starring actress".
Famous Alumni of Tokyo Imperial University
Tokyo Imperial University: 100 people
Peng Ming-min (Chinese: 彭明敏; pinyin: Péng Míngmǐn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Phêⁿ Bêng-bín; 15 August 1923 – 8 April 2022) was a…
Peng Ming-min (Chinese: 彭明敏; pinyin: Péng Míngmǐn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Phêⁿ Bêng-bín; 15 August 1923 – 8 April 2022) was a Taiwanese democracy activist, advocate of Taiwan independence, legal scholar, and politician. Arrested for sedition in 1964 for printing a manifesto advocating democracy in his native Taiwan, he escaped to Sweden, before taking a post as a university teacher in the United States. After 22 years in exile he returned to become the Democratic Progressive Party's first presidential candidate in Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 1996.
Masao Ono (大埜 正雄, Ono Masao; March 2, 1923 – February 11, 2001) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan…
Masao Ono (大埜 正雄, Ono Masao; March 2, 1923 – February 11, 2001) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.
Tarō Naka (Japanese: 那珂太郎, Hepburn: Naka Tarō; 23 January 1922 – 1 June 2014) was a prize-winning Japanese poet. He was…
Tarō Naka (Japanese: 那珂太郎, Hepburn: Naka Tarō; 23 January 1922 – 1 June 2014) was a prize-winning Japanese poet. He was born Shōjirō Fukuda in Hakata, now Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu in western Japan. At school he read, among others, Sakutarō Hagiwara, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Charles Baudelaire, and the Kyoto School philosopher Kitarō Nishida. In April 1941, he entered Tokyo Imperial University to study Japanese Literature. Some of his earliest poems dealing with the war and its immediate aftermath appeared in his debut collection, Etudes, in 1950, published by his high-school classmate Tokuo Date's Eureka Press. Between 1957 and 1964, Naka worked on what the critic Shōbin Hirai, among many others, considered his magnum opus, his 1965 collection Ongaku ('Music'). It was published by Shichōsha, Japan's foremost poetry publisher, in a limited edition of four hundred copies. It received widespread critical praise and was awarded the Yomiuri Prize and the Saisei Murō Prize. The collection is characterized by its high degree of attention to the interplay between the visual, phonetic and semantic aspects of words. In 2003, he composed a nō play, Shikōtei ('The First Emperor'), which was performed at the National Noh Theatre on 20 March 2014, a few months before Naka died from pneumonia in June 2014. An English translation of his work, Music: Selected Poems, was published by Isobar Press in July 2018.
Fujita Haruko (藤田晴子; February 25, 1918 – October 10, 2001) was a Japanese pianist, teacher, music critic, and jurist.…
Fujita Haruko (藤田晴子; February 25, 1918 – October 10, 2001) was a Japanese pianist, teacher, music critic, and jurist. Born to a family of jurists, she became one of the leading Japanese pianists of the 1930s. After the Pacific War she turned from music to jurisprudence, becoming one of the first female students enrolled at University of Tokyo. In later life she primarily worked as an academic, music critic, and constitutional scholar.
Osamu Matsubara (松原 治, Matsubara Osamu; October 7, 1917 – January 3, 2012) was a Japanese businessman, business…
Osamu Matsubara (松原 治, Matsubara Osamu; October 7, 1917 – January 3, 2012) was a Japanese businessman, business executive, and former chairman and CEO of Books Kinokuniya. Matsubara was President of Kinokuniya Company Ltd., the parent company of Books Kinokuniya, from October 1980 to November 2002. In November 2002, he became the Chief Executive Office and board chairman for Kinokuniya Company Ltd. Outside Japan, Matsubara oversaw the 2007 relocation of Books Kinokuniya's New York City location from Rockefeller Center to a new, 23,800 sq. feet, three-floor store across from Bryant Park. The store, with its 250,000 items, is considered the largest Japanese bookstore in the United States. The inventory of the New York location includes an equal amount of Japanese and English books, which is in line with the company's goal to offer a wide assortment of titles in both Japanese and English. Osamu Matsubara died from heart failure on January 3, 2012, at the age of 94.
Hamao Umezawa (梅沢 浜夫, Umezawa Hamao; October 1, 1914 – December 25, 1986) was a Japanese scientist who discovered…
Hamao Umezawa (梅沢 浜夫, Umezawa Hamao; October 1, 1914 – December 25, 1986) was a Japanese scientist who discovered several antimicrobial agents and enzyme inhibitors. Umezawa was born in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, as the second son in a family of seven children. After graduating from Musashi Junior and Senior High School, he entered the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine in 1933, and completed his medical degree in 1937. After serving in the Japanese army during World War II, Umezawa did work on tuberculosis which led to his discovery, in 1955, of the aminoglycoside antibiotic kanamycin. By this stage Umezawa was heading the Institute of Microbial Chemistry in Tokyo where his main focus was antimicrobial agents manufactured through fermentation processes. In 1963, he discovered the anticancer drug bleomycin, and in 1965 he discovered kasugamycin, a compound useful in combating rice molds. His elder brother, Sumio Umezawa, was a chemist who had sometimes assisted in his work. He was married to Mieko Ishizaki on December 2, 1944; they had two sons. Umezawa died of pneumonia on December 25, 1986. The Hamao Umezawa Memorial Museum in Setagaya, Tokyo was named in his honor.
Seiji Shimota (霜多正次, Shimota Seiji; September 5, 1913 – April 16, 2003) was a Japanese novelist. Born in Nakijin…
Seiji Shimota (霜多正次, Shimota Seiji; September 5, 1913 – April 16, 2003) was a Japanese novelist. Born in Nakijin, Okinawa, he attended local elementary and middle schools, but continued his high school education in Kumamoto, where he began writing novels and studied with Haruo Umezaki. He graduated from the School of English Literature, Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University. In 1940, he was conscripted and sent to Bougainville Island. Towards the end of the war, in May 1945, he surrendered to Australian forces and was sent to a POW camp. After being released, he did not return to Okinawa (which at the time was occupied by the Americans), but went to Tokyo instead, where he wrote novels while working in the offices of Shin Nihon Bungakukai ("New Japan Literature Society"), a leftist writers' association. In 1950, he published Kiyama ittō-hei to senkyōshi ("Private Kiyama and the Missionary") in the magazine "Shin Nihon Bungaku" and established himself as a writer. In 1953, he returned for a visit for the first time after the war to Okinawa, and started using Okinawan themes in his writings. For the novel Okinawashima, which was published in installments in Shin Nihon Bungaku ("New Japanese Literature") in 1956, he was awarded the "Mainichi Publications Literary Award". In 1957, with fellow writers Tatsukichi Nishino, Kim Tal-su and Sei Kubota, he started the Riarizumu Kenkyukai ("Realism Research Association"). He was expelled from the New Japan Literature Society after relations between him and Teruo Takei, the de facto leader of the Society, were soured by ideological differences. At a conference in 1964, Shimota disagreed with other executives of the Society on numerous issues, such as in regard to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, in which he took the Japanese Communist Party's position on the issue. When the Nippon minshushugi bungaku domei ("Japanese Democratic Literary Alliance") was established in 1965, he was named vice-chairman. In 1971, he was awarded the Takiji-Yuriko Award for Akemodoro. He died of pneumonia in Musashino, Tokyo, on April 16, 2003.
Tokuro Irie (入江徳郎, Irie Tokurō; July 15, 1913 – September 5, 1989) was a Japanese journalist, newscaster and essayist.
Tadashi Imai (今井正, Imai Tadashi; January 8, 1912 – November 22, 1991) was a Japanese film director known for social…
Tadashi Imai (今井正, Imai Tadashi; January 8, 1912 – November 22, 1991) was a Japanese film director known for social realist filmmaking informed by a left-wing perspective. His most noted films include An Inlet of Muddy Water (1953) and Bushido, Samurai Saga (1963).
Eishiro Saito (斎藤 英四郎, Saitou Eishiro) (November 11, 1911 - April 22, 2002) was a Japanese businessman, the former…
Eishiro Saito (斎藤 英四郎, Saitou Eishiro) (November 11, 1911 - April 22, 2002) was a Japanese businessman, the former President of Nippon Steel, the 6th Chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) from 1986 to 1991, President of the Japan Science Foundation from 1988, President of the Japan Sports Fund, and President of the Nagano Olympic Organizing Committee.
Kunio Nakagaki (中垣 國男, Nakagaki Kunio; 24 June 1911 – 2 April 1987) was a Japanese Minister of Justice. He was a…
Kunio Nakagaki (中垣 國男, Nakagaki Kunio; 24 June 1911 – 2 April 1987) was a Japanese Minister of Justice. He was a pro-death penalty activist and approved the executions of 33 people, including Matsuo Fujimoto and Ri Chin'u, who became the basis for the film Death by Hanging. On 11 September 1962, he commanded Fujimoto's execution and he was executed three days after. He also attempted to execute Sadamichi Hirasawa, but failed. Hirasawa was not executed, and died on 10 May 1987.
Osamu Shimomura (下村 治 Shimomura Osamu, 1910 – November 27, 1989), born in Saga Prefecture, Kitagawa Village, was a…
Osamu Shimomura (下村 治 Shimomura Osamu, 1910 – November 27, 1989), born in Saga Prefecture, Kitagawa Village, was a Japanese economist considered to be the "father of the Japanese economic miracle".
Count Sō Takeyuki (宗武志, Takeyuki Sō; Korean: 소 다케유키; 16 February 1908 – 22 April 1985) was a Japanese aristocrat…
Count Sō Takeyuki (宗武志, Takeyuki Sō; Korean: 소 다케유키; 16 February 1908 – 22 April 1985) was a Japanese aristocrat, academic and poet. He was the count of the island Tsushima from 1923 to 1947. He was the husband of Princess Deokhye, the last princess of the Korean Empire, and served as a member of the House of Peers.
Ikutarō Shimizu (清水 幾太郎, Shimizu Ikutarō; 9 July 1907 – 10 August 1988) was a Japanese sociologist, cultural critic…
Ikutarō Shimizu (清水 幾太郎, Shimizu Ikutarō; 9 July 1907 – 10 August 1988) was a Japanese sociologist, cultural critic, and prominent public intellectual. He taught sociology for many years at Gakushūin University.
Takashi Inukai (犬養 孝, Inukai Takashi; April 1, 1907 – October 3, 1998) was professor emeritus at Osaka University and…
Takashi Inukai (犬養 孝, Inukai Takashi; April 1, 1907 – October 3, 1998) was professor emeritus at Osaka University and Kōnan Women's University, and a noted scholar of Japanese literature and especially the Man'yōshū poetry. He earned his bachelor's degree in Japanese literature from the University of Tokyo in 1932, as well as its Ph.D. in 1962. He received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from the Japanese Government in 1978. He was qualified as a Person of Cultural Merit in 1987. Upon his death, the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Star, was posthumously conferred on him. After graduating from the Faculty of Letters at the University of Tokyo, Inukai Takashi taught at Taipei High School, where he served as the homeroom teacher for students such as Koo Kuan-min(辜寬敏) and Takeuchi Akihiro(竹內昭太郎). During his time at Taipei High School (officially known as Taiwan Governor-General's Taipei Senior High School(臺灣總督府臺北高等學校)), Inukai captivated many students with his unique "Inukai melody" while reciting the *Man'yōshū* (萬葉集). Students like Huang Bo-chao(黃伯超, Koo Kuan-min(辜寬敏), and Wu Jiantang(吳建堂) (pen name: 孤蓬萬里) were so enchanted by it that they continued to recite *Man'yōshū* (萬葉集) using the "Inukai melody" (犬養節) even into their old age (around 2023). In addition, he mentored future luminaries such as Dr. Wu Jiantang(吳建堂) (pen name: 孤蓬萬里), who later became a renowned physician. In 1996, Dr. Wu received the prestigious Kikuchi Kan Prize in Japan for his book *Taiwan Man'yōshū*. When he was a professor of Osaka University, he walked around with his students the places where each verse of the Man'yōshū was composed, in order to help them understand the essences of the Man'yōshū more deeply. His idea impressed the students very much, and they went for more than 250 trips all over the country for almost 50 years, until he died in 1998. The total number of participants of those Osaka University Man'yo trips reached more than 40,000. In addition to teaching his students, he helped the people be more familiar with the Man'yōshū. Countless of people was attracted by the Man'yōshū thanks to his activities. He gave a lecture on Man'yōshū to Emperor Shōwa on the top of a hill in Asuka, Nara, on December 4, 1979. Inukai Man'yō Memorial Hall in Asuka, Nara Prefecture is dedicated to Inukai.
Shiro Teshima (手島 志郎, Teshima Shiro; February 26, 1907 – November 6, 1982) was a Japanese football player. He played…
Shiro Teshima (手島 志郎, Teshima Shiro; February 26, 1907 – November 6, 1982) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.
Shunji Shimizu (清水俊二 Shimizu Shunji?), (1906-1988), is a well-known Japanese subtitler and translator, referred to by…
Shunji Shimizu (清水俊二 Shimizu Shunji?), (1906-1988), is a well-known Japanese subtitler and translator, referred to by one scholar as 'practically a household name in Japan'. He translated popular authors including Erskine Caldwell and Agatha Christie. He had a long working relationship with the Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures. He was a mentor to the eminent subtitler Natsuko Toda.
Osanori Koyama (小山 長規, Koyama Osanori; 10 June 1905 – 31 January 1988) was a Japanese politician, a member of the…
Osanori Koyama (小山 長規, Koyama Osanori; 10 June 1905 – 31 January 1988) was a Japanese politician, a member of the National Diet and a Cabinet member.
Takeo Doi (土井 武夫, Doi Takeo; 31 October 1904 – 24 December 1996) was a Japanese aircraft designer. He designed many…
Takeo Doi (土井 武夫, Doi Takeo; 31 October 1904 – 24 December 1996) was a Japanese aircraft designer. He designed many World War II fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. His most important work was the "Army Type 3 Fighter" (三式戦闘機, Sanshiki sentoki), a.k.a. Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (飛燕, Hi-en) ("flying swallow") or "Tony". Also he was one of the chief designers of the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC) YS-11.
Uichiro Hatta (八田 卯一郎, Hatta Uichirō; September 10, 1903 – April 20, 1989) was a Japanese football player. He played…
Uichiro Hatta (八田 卯一郎, Hatta Uichirō; September 10, 1903 – April 20, 1989) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.
Shōchō Hagami (葉上照澄; August 15, 1903 – March 7, 1989) was a Japanese great acharya (大阿闍梨) of Tendai Buddhism and one of…
Shōchō Hagami (葉上照澄; August 15, 1903 – March 7, 1989) was a Japanese great acharya (大阿闍梨) of Tendai Buddhism and one of the most prominent Japanese Buddhists of the 20th century. He served as President of the Japanese Religious Committee for World Federation and advocated the need for the cooperation of religious leaders, which transcends religious and denominational boundaries. Hagami was originally a professor of German philosophy at Taisho University and in turn served as a journalist for the Sanyo Shimbun. However, the untimely death of his wife as well as the defeat of Japan at WWII triggered him to pursue religious life, whereby to help Japan restore itself from the postwar devastation. In 1946, he entered the Buddhist monastery at Mount Hiei, the headquarters of the Tendai school and the Mother Mountain of Japanese Buddhism. Hagami was the 39th monk in history who completed the ordeal of endurance, perseverance, and both physical and mental strength, known as Sennichi Kaihōgyō in Japanese (千日回峰行), or “thousand-day around-the-peaks training.” He also completed other ordeals such as a thousand days of Unshin Kaihōgyō (運心回峰行) and a thousand days of Hokke Zanmaigyō (法華三昧行). While fostering new generations of Japan for lives of influence and service, Hagami was actively engaged in promoting reconciliation and peaceful coexistence across the world. He appealed to Pope Paul VI and other religious leaders of the world to create an International League of all religious people of the whole world in order to end all the wars among religions as well as all the conflicts caused in the name of religions. Hagami once noted: “It is said that the root of all evil is human pride, obstinacy, human ego, class ego, racial ego, and national ego. Yet religion which is supposed, above all, to teach the casting away of ego, itself has the egoism of sects and religious institutions. And this is what makes me dislike religionists. . . . True religion is born from the abyss of despair. I believe that when it really becomes a question of whether mankind will survive or not, then religion will return to a purer position, and will set out in a great new direction.” Hagami maintained that for the advancement of world peace, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam must be reconciled, and that Japanese Buddhists—as religious people of the first victim of nuclear attack in human history—must serve as mediators for that reconciliation. Accordingly, he visited Egypt and the Vatican many times and established close friendships with the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as well as with Cardinal Sergio Pignedoli of the Vatican. In July 1977, Hagami visited President Sadat and urged him to make peace with Israel. This was one of the triggers that led Sadat's dramatic journey to the Knesset in Israel. Sadat himself mentioned Hagami's impact on this initiation in his letter of gratitude to Hagami. At Hagami's suggestion, Sadat also sponsored a communal service in November 1979, gathering representatives of Islam, Judaism and Christianity at the foot of Mount Sinai on the occasion of the transfer of the Sinai Peninsula from Israel to Egypt. In October 1981, when Hagami learned about the assassination of Sadat, he felt personally responsible for Sadat's death. Sadat was said to have been killed for shaking hands with Jews, which Hagami urged Sadat to do. In March 1984, as a way, in part, to commemorate Sadat's death, Hagami organized a joint prayer meeting for world peace on Mount Sinai, by appealing to religious leaders in the US and Egypt. 130 people assembled there to represent Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Shinto, from the US, Egypt, Israel and Japan, and prayed for the speedy end of the Middle East War and performed different religious ceremonies according to the respective styles of rituals. In August 1987, Hagami invited prominent leaders of various religions of the world to hold the first Religious Summit Meeting on Mount Hiei, Japan, in order to advance peaceful coexistence, interfaith dialogue, and acceptance of others. He visited Israel in 1988 and was acquainted with a variety of religious leaders and scholars such as André Chouraqui, R.J. Zwi Werblowsky, and Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. To further advance interfaith dialogue, Hagami planned to hold a Religious Summit Meeting in Jerusalem but died before its fruition.
Roppa Furukawa (古川ロッパ, also 緑波, Furukawa Roppa; 3 August 1903 – 16 January 1961) was a Japanese comedian.
Genjū Sasa (佐々元十, Sasa Genjū) (14 January 1900 – 7 July 1959) was a left-wing Japanese film director and film critic.…
Genjū Sasa (佐々元十, Sasa Genjū) (14 January 1900 – 7 July 1959) was a left-wing Japanese film director and film critic. He was a founding member of the Proletarian Film League of Japan (Prokino), providing inspiration to the movement through his writings and his films.
Shigeru Tonomura (外村 繁, Tonomura Shigeru; December 23, 1902 – July 28, 1961) was a Japanese author of I novels. Kanji…
Shigeru Tonomura (外村 繁, Tonomura Shigeru; December 23, 1902 – July 28, 1961) was a Japanese author of I novels. Kanji of his real name was 外村 茂, but it was the same reading as the pen name. Tonomura was born into a conservative merchant's family in Shiga Prefecture and raised by devout parents who believed in Pure Land Buddhism. After graduation from the University of Tokyo with a degree in economics, he took over the family business as a wholesale cotton merchant. His house in Gokashōkondō-chō, Higashiōmi, is now a museum that reflects Ōmi Province merchant life. In 1933, Tonomura handed over control of the business to his brother and began to write seriously. He received the 1956 Noma Literary Prize for Ikada (筏) and the 1960 Yomiuri Prize for Miotsukushi (澪標). Tonomura was good friends with Motojirō Kajii.
Kiyoo Wadati (和達 清夫, Wadachi Kiyoo; September 8, 1902 – January 5, 1995) was an early seismologist at the Central…
Kiyoo Wadati (和達 清夫, Wadachi Kiyoo; September 8, 1902 – January 5, 1995) was an early seismologist at the Central Meteorological Observatory of Japan (now known as the Japan Meteorological Agency), researching deep (subduction zone) earthquakes. His name is attached to the Wadati–Benioff zone. It was Wadati's 1928 paper on shallow and deep earthquakes, comparing maximum below surface displacement against distance from the epicentre, which led Charles Richter to develop his earthquake magnitude scale in 1935.
Nobutake Ōkōchi (大河内 信威, Ōkōchi Nobutake; 24 July 1902 – 12 July 1990) was a Japanese art historian, critic and…
Nobutake Ōkōchi (大河内 信威, Ōkōchi Nobutake; 24 July 1902 – 12 July 1990) was a Japanese art historian, critic and businessman who served as the fifth president of the Japan Ceramics Association from 1984 to 1990. Before that, he was also a sympathiser for the cause of the Japanese Communist Party.
Hajime Hosokawa (細川 一, Hosokawa Hajime; 23 September 1901 – 13 October 1970) was director of the company hospital…
Hajime Hosokawa (細川 一, Hosokawa Hajime; 23 September 1901 – 13 October 1970) was director of the company hospital attached to the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory in Minamata, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan. He was the first doctor to discover and treat patients of the massive outbreak of mercury poisoning that occurred in the town, which became known as Minamata disease.
Kiichi Arita (Japanese: 有田 喜一; 30 April 1901 – 9 February 1986) was a Japanese politician. During his time in politics…
Kiichi Arita (Japanese: 有田 喜一; 30 April 1901 – 9 February 1986) was a Japanese politician. During his time in politics, he served as Director of the Economic Planning Agency, Director of the Defense Agency, and Minister of Education.
Yoshio Shiga (志賀 義雄, Shiga Yoshio; 12 January 1901 – 6 March 1989) was a member of the Japanese Communist Party.
Ukichiro Nakaya (中谷 宇吉郎, Nakaya Ukichirō; July 4, 1900 – April 11, 1962) was a Japanese physicist and science essayist…
Ukichiro Nakaya (中谷 宇吉郎, Nakaya Ukichirō; July 4, 1900 – April 11, 1962) was a Japanese physicist and science essayist known for his work in glaciology and low-temperature sciences. He is credited with making the first artificial snowflakes.
Yoshiaki Ozawa (小沢 儀明, Ozawa Yoshiaki) was a paleontologist and geologist. After graduating from the University of…
Yoshiaki Ozawa (小沢 儀明, Ozawa Yoshiaki) was a paleontologist and geologist. After graduating from the University of Tokyo (when Tokyo Imperial University in 1923, Ozawa was hired by faculty as an assistant and become a full-time lecturer next year. His early work earned him a fellowship in the Geological Society of Japan and proved that Akiyoshi plateau had a reverse stratigraphy. He became an associate professor in 1925 and got the Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy in 1926. The foraminifera genus "Staffella Ozawa" is named after him. Ozawa with his wife received a grant to travel to Europe (England, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France) and United States in 1927, collaborating with the Massachusetts researcher Joseph Augustine Cushman. During that period and after return to Japan Ozawa performed mostly foraminifera research, both gathering his own samples and analyzing samples of other researchers. Five months after his return in Japan, Ozawa contracted typhoid fever and died 29 December 1929. Afterward, the Geological Society of Japan established "The Geological Society of Japan Ozawa Yoshiaki Award" which is granted to young (under 37 years old) scientists for exceptional contribution to the field of geology.
Viscount Hidemaro Konoye (近衛 秀麿, Konoe Hidemaro; 18 November 1898 – 2 June 1973) was a Japanese conductor and composer…
Viscount Hidemaro Konoye (近衛 秀麿, Konoe Hidemaro; 18 November 1898 – 2 June 1973) was a Japanese conductor and composer of classical music. He was the younger brother of wartime Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.
Masao Oka (岡 正雄, Oka Masao; 1898–1982) was a Japanese ethnologist and Japanologist. Oka is considered the leading…
Masao Oka (岡 正雄, Oka Masao; 1898–1982) was a Japanese ethnologist and Japanologist. Oka is considered the leading figure in the establishment of Japanese ethnology since the 1930s.
Ichiro Fukuzawa (January 18, 1898 – October 16, 1992) was a Japanese modernist painter credited with the establishment…
Ichiro Fukuzawa (January 18, 1898 – October 16, 1992) was a Japanese modernist painter credited with the establishment of Surrealism in Japan's artistic communities during the early 1930s. While Surrealist artists are known for their distinct focus on the human subconsciousness and dreams, Fukuzawa's Western-style (yōga) paintings depart from such conventions by instead providing sharply satirical commentaries on human behavior and systemic social issues in Japan, including the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and the adverse impacts of the 1973 Oil Crisis on the Japanese economy. Since he was associated with Surrealism's progressive ideas, Fukuzawa's art became a contentious issue for the Japanese State that led to his subsequent imprisonment and forced him to pursue pro-Imperial subjects during the Second World War. Fukuzawa's career was not limited to the Japanese islands as he traveled extensively across mainland Asia, Europe, the United States, and Australia where his exposure to key socio-political events and artistic styles influenced his later periods of creativity. Despite his violation of the Peace Preservation Law during World War II, Fukuzawa is celebrated as one of only a few individuals in Japanese history to have been imprisoned for breaking national laws and to be regarded as a Person of Cultural Merit and the recipient of the Order of Culture within his lifetime.
Kinichiro Sakaguchi (坂口 謹一郎, Sakaguchi Kin'ichirō; November 17, 1897 – December 9, 1994) was a Japanese agricultural…
Kinichiro Sakaguchi (坂口 謹一郎, Sakaguchi Kin'ichirō; November 17, 1897 – December 9, 1994) was a Japanese agricultural chemist and microbiologist. He was born in Niigata prefecture. He is the inventor of the Sakaguchi flask, a round-bottom long-neck shake flask. In Jōetsu, Niigata, a sake museum has a part of its exhibition dedicated to him.
Uchimura Yushi (12 November 1897 – 17 September 1980) was a Japanese medical scientist and psychiatrist. He specialised…
Uchimura Yushi (12 November 1897 – 17 September 1980) was a Japanese medical scientist and psychiatrist. He specialised in clinical psychiatry and neuropathology. He is viewed as "one of the founders of Japanese psychiatry".
Shun'ichi Kase (加瀬 俊一, Kase Shun'ichi; October 23, 1897– September 9, 1956) was a Japanese diplomat both during and…
Shun'ichi Kase (加瀬 俊一, Kase Shun'ichi; October 23, 1897– September 9, 1956) was a Japanese diplomat both during and after World War II. Shun'ichi Kase was a secretary to Japanese Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka in 1941. Then he was chargé d’affaires in Italy, as of 1943. Subsequently, he served as Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland (in 1945), Japanese Ambassador to Mexico (in 1952), and Japanese Ambassador to West Germany (1953-1956). The names Shun'ichi Kase and Toshikazu Kase are spelled in Japanese using the same characters, but are two different people. Toshikazu was a bureau chief in the foreign office in Tokyo who also served as secretary to several foreign ministers.
Takuji Nakamura (1 April 1897 – 31 January 1988) was a Japanese painter. His work was part of the painting event in the…
Takuji Nakamura (1 April 1897 – 31 January 1988) was a Japanese painter. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Ken'ichi Kumagai (熊谷 憲一, Kumagai Ken'ichi; 2 October 1895 – 9 October 1956) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician. A…
Ken'ichi Kumagai (熊谷 憲一, Kumagai Ken'ichi; 2 October 1895 – 9 October 1956) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician. A career official of the Home Ministry and related wartime agencies, he served as Governor of Okayama Prefecture and Yamaguchi Prefecture, as the 27th Director-General of the Hokkaidō Agency, and after the war as a member of the House of Representatives from Fukuoka 1st district.
Satyu Yamaguti (山口 左仲, Yamaguchi Sachū; 21 April 1894 – 11 March 1976) was a Japanese parasitologist, entomologist, and…
Satyu Yamaguti (山口 左仲, Yamaguchi Sachū; 21 April 1894 – 11 March 1976) was a Japanese parasitologist, entomologist, and helminthologist. He was a specialist of mosquitoes and helminths such as digeneans, monogeneans, cestodes, acanthocephalans and nematodes. He also worked on the parasitic crustaceans Copepoda and Branchiura. Satyu Yamaguti wrote more than 60 scientific papers and, more importantly, several huge monographs which are still in use by scientists all over the world and were cited over 1,000 times each.
Yukio Tomeoka (留岡 幸男, Tomeoka Yukio; 16 April 1894 – 3 May 1981) was a Japanese bureaucrat, police official, and later…
Yukio Tomeoka (留岡 幸男, Tomeoka Yukio; 16 April 1894 – 3 May 1981) was a Japanese bureaucrat, police official, and later lawyer. A career official of the Home Ministry, he served as Governor of Akita Prefecture, Director-General of the ministry's Local Affairs Bureau, Superintendent-General of the Metropolitan Police, and finally as Director-General of the Hokkaidō Agency.
Toshio Ōtsu (Japanese: 大津敏男; 26 October 1893 – 27 December 1958) was the last Director of the Japanese Sakhalin…
Toshio Ōtsu (Japanese: 大津敏男; 26 October 1893 – 27 December 1958) was the last Director of the Japanese Sakhalin (1943–1947) and the first and only governor of the mainland Japanese Karafuto Prefecture. After the end of his tenure, the prefecture was abolished with the incorporation of Karafuto into the Soviet Union. Prior to this he was Governor of Saitama Prefecture (1942–1943). As prefectural governor he held the status of a first rank counselor and had the right to meet with the emperor. He was a graduate of Tokyo Imperial University. After the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, he was initially placed under house arrest by the Red Army. However, soon after the arrival of Dmitrii Kriukov, the new civil administrator of Sakhalin and the Kuriles, in late September 1945, Ōtsu agreed to administer southern Sakhalin on behalf of the Soviets. On 12 January 1946, he was taken to Krasnaya Rechka prison near Khabarovsk. After his release, Ōtsu returned to Japan and in 1951 became the second head of Zenkoku Karafuto Renmei, an association of former residents of Karafuto.
Kenjiro Kitajima (Japanese: 北島謙次郎; 5 October 1893 – 24 November 1957) was a Japanese government official who was…
Kenjiro Kitajima (Japanese: 北島謙次郎; 5 October 1893 – 24 November 1957) was a Japanese government official who was Governor of the South Seas Mandate from 1936 to 1940. He was Deputy Minister of Colonial Affairs in 1940. He was from Saga Prefecture and graduated from Tokyo Imperial University.
Yasujiro Niwa (丹羽 保次郎, Niwa Yasujirō; April 1, 1893 – February 28, 1975) was a Japanese electrical scientist from…
Yasujiro Niwa (丹羽 保次郎, Niwa Yasujirō; April 1, 1893 – February 28, 1975) was a Japanese electrical scientist from Matsusaka, Mie. In the 1920s, he invented a simple device for phototelegraphic transmission through cable and later via radio, a technology that contributed to the development of mechanical television in Japan. He later became the Director of the Department of Electronic Engineering at the University of Tokyo. He was awarded the Order of Cultural Merits and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure. On April 18, 1985, the Japan Patent Office selected him as one of Ten Japanese Great Inventors.
Einosuke Harada (原田 永之助, Harada Einosuke; February 25, 1892 – December 20, 1946) was a Japanese ophthalmologist who…
Einosuke Harada (原田 永之助, Harada Einosuke; February 25, 1892 – December 20, 1946) was a Japanese ophthalmologist who reported a condition now known as Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease.
Eikichi Araki (新木 栄吉, Araki Eikichi; April 24, 1891 – February 1, 1959) was a Japanese businessman and a central…
Eikichi Araki (新木 栄吉, Araki Eikichi; April 24, 1891 – February 1, 1959) was a Japanese businessman and a central banker. He was the 17th and 19th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ).
Yukio Yashiro (矢代 幸雄, Yashiro Yukio; 5, November 1890–25, May 1975) was a Japanese academic, art historian, Botticelli…
Yukio Yashiro (矢代 幸雄, Yashiro Yukio; 5, November 1890–25, May 1975) was a Japanese academic, art historian, Botticelli scholar and Director of the Institute for Art Research in Tokyo.
Yanagi Sōetsu (Japanese: 柳 宗悦; March 21, 1889 – May 3, 1961), also known as Yanagi Muneyoshi, was a Japanese art…
Yanagi Sōetsu (Japanese: 柳 宗悦; March 21, 1889 – May 3, 1961), also known as Yanagi Muneyoshi, was a Japanese art critic, philosopher, and founder of the mingei (folk craft) movement in Japan in the late 1920s and 1930s.
Professor Kenji Takagi (1888–1963) was a Japanese orthopedic surgeon, noted for being one of the first people to carry…
Professor Kenji Takagi (1888–1963) was a Japanese orthopedic surgeon, noted for being one of the first people to carry out a successful arthroscopy of the knee. Takagi was attached to Tokyo University (where he succeeded Yoshinori Tashiro) in 1918 when he carried out the ground-breaking operation on a cadaver. He had been influenced by the work of Danish surgeon Severin Nordentoft. In 1922, he went to Germany to study the use of x-ray technology there. Following World War II, Takagi's pupil Masaki Watanabe, carried on his work.