1950: 192 people
Kazuhisa Kono (河野 和久, Kono Kazuhisa; born December 30, 1950) is a former Japanese football player. He played for the…
Kazuhisa Kono (河野 和久, Kono Kazuhisa; born December 30, 1950) is a former Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team.
Hitoshi Asada (born December 29, 1950, in Osaka Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese politician who has served as a member…
Hitoshi Asada (born December 29, 1950, in Osaka Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese politician who has served as a member of the House of Councillors of Japan since 2016. He represents the Osaka at-large district and is a member of the Japan Innovation Party.
Masami Ichimura (市村 政美, Ichimura Masami; born 29 December 1950) is a Japanese alpine skier. He competed at the 1972…
Masami Ichimura (市村 政美, Ichimura Masami; born 29 December 1950) is a Japanese alpine skier. He competed at the 1972 Winter Olympics and the 1976 Winter Olympics.
Akio Matsubara, known as Hiroaki Fukushi and Jang Myeong-bu (Korean: 장명부; December 27, 1950 – April 13, 2005) was a…
Akio Matsubara, known as Hiroaki Fukushi and Jang Myeong-bu (Korean: 장명부; December 27, 1950 – April 13, 2005) was a Japanese professional baseball pitcher who played Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan and KBO League baseball in South Korea. He holds KBO records for most wins and most complete games in a season, as well as most losses in a season.
Shihoko Ishii (Japanese: 石井志保子, born 1950) is a Japanese mathematician and professor at the University of Tokyo. Her…
Shihoko Ishii (Japanese: 石井志保子, born 1950) is a Japanese mathematician and professor at the University of Tokyo. Her research area is algebraic geometry.
Yōji Nagaoka (永岡洋治, Nagaoka Yoji; born 1950) was a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives…
Yōji Nagaoka (永岡洋治, Nagaoka Yoji; born 1950) was a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives (Japan), elected to represent Ibaraki 7th district as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He died by suicide on 1 August 2005.
Masaki Kanda (Japanese: 神田 正輝, Hepburn: Kanda Masaki; born December 21, 1950) is a Japanese actor. He is well known for…
Masaki Kanda (Japanese: 神田 正輝, Hepburn: Kanda Masaki; born December 21, 1950) is a Japanese actor. He is well known for his role as Doc (Akira Saijō in Taiyō ni Hoero!). His ex-wife is singer Seiko Matsuda and their daughter was actress Sayaka Kanda.
Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi (宮腰 光寛, Miyakoshi Mitsuhiro; born 21 December 1950) is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal…
Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi (宮腰 光寛, Miyakoshi Mitsuhiro; born 21 December 1950) is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who served as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) and Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs. A native of Kurobe, Toyama and dropout of Kyoto University, he was elected to the first of his four terms in the assembly of Toyama Prefecture in 1983 and then to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1998. Miyakoshi likes Awamori, an alcoholic beverage in Okinawa, very much.
Yutaka Fujimoto (藤本 裕, Fujimoto Yutaka; 21 December 1950 – 31 October 2001) was a Japanese basketball player. He…
Yutaka Fujimoto (藤本 裕, Fujimoto Yutaka; 21 December 1950 – 31 October 2001) was a Japanese basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Yōko Maekawa (前川 陽子, Maekawa Yōko) is a Japanese singer and jazz singer born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She graduated…
Yōko Maekawa (前川 陽子, Maekawa Yōko) is a Japanese singer and jazz singer born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She graduated from the Faculty of Letters at Atomi University. She is best known for performing various anison songs, particularly the opening for Cutie Honey. In 2008, she rerecorded the openings for Cutie Honey and Megu the Little Witch, titling them "21st century" versions. The Cutie Honey opening was originally intended to be performed by Linda Yamamoto. At NHK, she is known as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings of Anime Songs" along with Mitsuko Horie, Isao Sasaki and Ichirou Mizuki. She is also widely hailed as "the Goddess of Magical Girl Songs".
Tetsuo Nishimoto (西本 哲雄, Nishimoto Tetsuo; born December 16, 1950) is a Japanese former volleyball player who competed…
Tetsuo Nishimoto (西本 哲雄, Nishimoto Tetsuo; born December 16, 1950) is a Japanese former volleyball player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 1976 Summer Olympics. He was born in Hiroshima. In 1972, he was part of the Japanese team which won the gold medal in the Olympic tournament. He played four matches. Four years later, in 1976, he finished fourth with the Japanese team in the 1976 Olympic tournament. He played all five matches.
Norio Mitsuya (三ッ矢 憲生, Mitsuya Norio; born 13 December 1950) is a Japanese former politician, belonging to the Liberal…
Norio Mitsuya (三ッ矢 憲生, Mitsuya Norio; born 13 December 1950) is a Japanese former politician, belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party. He is a former member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
Kazuhide Ishiyama or Song Il-soo (石山 一秀、いしやま かずひで、born December 23, 1950) is the former manager of the Doosan Bears of…
Kazuhide Ishiyama or Song Il-soo (石山 一秀、いしやま かずひで、born December 23, 1950) is the former manager of the Doosan Bears of the KBO League.
Chiyoko "Shio" Satō (佐藤 史生, Satō Shio) (6 December 1952 – 4 April 2010) was a Japanese manga artist. Satō is often…
Chiyoko "Shio" Satō (佐藤 史生, Satō Shio) (6 December 1952 – 4 April 2010) was a Japanese manga artist. Satō is often regarded as a member of the Post Year 24 Group, a group of female manga artists considered influential in the development of shōjo manga. She wrote under the pen name Shio Satō – as her surname Satō had the same pronunciation as satō (砂糖, sugar), she combined it with shio (塩, salt), with the kanji form modified as 史生. She made her professional debut in 1977 with the publication of "Koi wa Ajina Mono!?" in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic (Shogakukan). Her definitive works include Yumemiru Wakusei (The Dreaming Planet) and One Zero . Her stories were usually serious science fiction (SF) drawn in a "subdued" style. Satō regards her interest in science fiction from the patience and thorough answers of her father when she was young and asking "Why?" to everything. Her science fiction influences include Isaac Asimov, Cordwainer Smith and James Tiptree Jr. A major influence on her work Yumemiru Wakusei (1980–1984) was the film Lawrence of Arabia. Her another focus was on Asian myths, animism, and traditional arts like masks and statues of gods. The first publication featuring these elements was "Yume Kui" (Dream Eater) in 1982. Satō further widened her perspective to integrate these elements into SF. In One Zero (1984–1986), she depicted future technologies such as artificial intelligence encountering the endless war between Buddhist and anti-Buddhist gods. In spite of the small number of publications and no adaptation to other media, Satō's manga works have a devoted fan base. Her works mostly appeared on shōjo manga magazines such as Bessatsu Shōjo Comic, Petit Flower (Shogakukan), and Grape Fruit (Shinshokan). "The Changeling", an SF short story published on Petit Flower in 1989, is her only story translated in English to this day. In addition to being published in the English-language anthology Four Shōjo Stories, it was serialised in Animerica in 1995 (Vol.3 issues 5 and 6).
Mamoru Fujisawa (Japanese: 藤澤 守, Hepburn: Fujisawa Mamoru; born December 6, 1950), known professionally as Joe Hisaishi…
Mamoru Fujisawa (Japanese: 藤澤 守, Hepburn: Fujisawa Mamoru; born December 6, 1950), known professionally as Joe Hisaishi (久石 譲, Hisaishi Jō), is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. Hisaishi's music has been known to explore and incorporate different genres, including minimalist, experimental electronic, Western classical, and Japanese classical. He has also worked as a music engraver and arranger. He has been associated with director and animator Hayao Miyazaki since 1984, having written scores for all but one of Miyazaki's films. He is also recognized for his music for filmmaker 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, including A Scene at the Sea (1991), Sonatine (1993), Kids Return (1996), Hana-bi (1997), Kikujiro (1999), Brother (2000), and Dolls (2002), and for the video game series Ni no Kuni. He composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Departures (2008). He was a student of anime composer Takeo Watanabe.
Seiichi Sakiya (崎谷 誠一, Sakiya Seiichi; born December 1, 1950) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan…
Seiichi Sakiya (崎谷 誠一, Sakiya Seiichi; born December 1, 1950) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.
Itsumichi Isomura (磯村一路, Isomura Itsumichi) is a Japanese film director. He won the award for Best Director at the 20th…
Itsumichi Isomura (磯村一路, Isomura Itsumichi) is a Japanese film director. He won the award for Best Director at the 20th Yokohama Film Festival for Give It All. Isomura co-founded the Japanese film studio Altamira Pictures with fellow director Masayuki Suo, as well as producers Shoji Masui and Yuji Ogata.
Hōdō Nakamura (中村 法道, Nakamura Hōdō; born 29 November 1950) is a Japanese politician and a former governor of Nagasaki…
Hōdō Nakamura (中村 法道, Nakamura Hōdō; born 29 November 1950) is a Japanese politician and a former governor of Nagasaki Prefecture located in the Kyushu region of Japan. He was re-elected for another four-year term as governor in both 2014 and 2018. Nakamura ran for a fourth term in 2022, but lost the elections.
Michiyo Inaoka (稲岡 美千代, Inaoka Michiyo; born 28 November 1950) is a Japanese athlete. She competed in the women's high…
Michiyo Inaoka (稲岡 美千代, Inaoka Michiyo; born 28 November 1950) is a Japanese athlete. She competed in the women's high jump at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Hiroshi Oguchi (大口 広司, Ōguchi Hiroshi; sometimes spelled as Ohguchi) was born in Kawaguchi, Japan, on November 28…
Hiroshi Oguchi (大口 広司, Ōguchi Hiroshi; sometimes spelled as Ohguchi) was born in Kawaguchi, Japan, on November 28, 1950. He died on January 25, 2009, in Tokyo, Japan, of cancer. A Tokyo-based conceptual artist, musician and scene maker, Hiroshi Oguchi had for decades been influential in the changing attitudes of Japan's youth. As a drummer, he was in the bands The Tempters, Pyg, and Vodka Collins, recording many albums. He also owned and ran his own fashion company, Practice of Silence. Oguchi was also an actor in a number of films, including Strange Circus (2006), Freesia :Icy Tears (2006),The Sinking Of Japan (2006) and Silk (2007). He was married to the popular actress Kimie Shingyoji; they had one son, Gento Oguchi, who is a musician and artist.
Hiroaki Hamada (浜田 広秋, Hamada Hiroaki), better known by his ring name Gran Hamada (グラン浜田, Guran Hamada; November 27…
Hiroaki Hamada (浜田 広秋, Hamada Hiroaki), better known by his ring name Gran Hamada (グラン浜田, Guran Hamada; November 27, 1950 – February 15, 2025), was a Japanese professional wrestler, the first to adopt the high-flying Mexican lucha libre style. He wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, Michinoku Pro, and All Japan Pro Wrestling and was the founder of Universal Lucha Libre. He also had stints with the World Wrestling Federation and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the United States. His daughters Xóchitl Hamada and Ayako Hamada are professional Japanese-Mexican wrestlers.
Mitsuaki Iwagō (岩合 光昭, Iwagō Mitsuaki; born November 27, 1950 in Tokyo) is a prominent Japanese wildlife photographer…
Mitsuaki Iwagō (岩合 光昭, Iwagō Mitsuaki; born November 27, 1950 in Tokyo) is a prominent Japanese wildlife photographer and filmmaker.
Daisaku Kadokawa (門川 大作, Kadokawa Daisaku) is a Japanese politician and former mayor of Kyoto City, the capital city of…
Daisaku Kadokawa (門川 大作, Kadokawa Daisaku) is a Japanese politician and former mayor of Kyoto City, the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture.
Shūji Kataoka (片岡 修二, Kataoka Shūji) a.k.a. Yasui Shūchi is a Japanese director and screenwriter primarily known for…
Shūji Kataoka (片岡 修二, Kataoka Shūji) a.k.a. Yasui Shūchi is a Japanese director and screenwriter primarily known for his work in pink films but who has also worked in adult videos (AV) and in mainstream film.
Takashi Hiraide (平出 隆, Hiraide Takashi; born 21 November 1950 in moji, now a part of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka) is a Japanese…
Takashi Hiraide (平出 隆, Hiraide Takashi; born 21 November 1950 in moji, now a part of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka) is a Japanese poet, critic, book designer, and professor. Hiraide's most celebrated work, published in English, is The Guest Cat (2014). The Guest Cat made the New York Times best-seller list in the same year it was published in English, 2014 and has reached international acclaim.
Keizo Imai (今井 敬三, Imai Keizō; born November 19, 1950) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan…
Keizo Imai (今井 敬三, Imai Keizō; born November 19, 1950) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.
Keiko Itoh is a Japanese writer and historian in the United Kingdom.
Yoshiaki Kawajiri (川尻 善昭, Kawajiri Yoshiaki; born November 18, 1950) is a Japanese writer, director, storyboard artist…
Yoshiaki Kawajiri (川尻 善昭, Kawajiri Yoshiaki; born November 18, 1950) is a Japanese writer, director, storyboard artist and animator. A co-founder of the anime studio Madhouse, he is best known as the director of Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.
Takao Kisugi (来生 たかお, Kisugi Takao), born November 16, 1950, in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese singer and songwriter. In…
Takao Kisugi (来生 たかお, Kisugi Takao), born November 16, 1950, in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese singer and songwriter. In 1974, he debuted as a songwriter and in 1976 made his solo debut as a singer. He often collaborates on songs with his sister, Etsuko Kisugi, who is a lyricist. In 1982, on the third Japan Composition Award, he received the "Best Composer" music award for the song Second Love. In his career, spanning over 45 years, he composed over 400 songs.
Hachiya Toshiyuki (蜂矢敏行) (16 November 1950 – 27 January 2001) was a sumo wrestler from Motosu, Gifu, Japan. He made his…
Hachiya Toshiyuki (蜂矢敏行) (16 November 1950 – 27 January 2001) was a sumo wrestler from Motosu, Gifu, Japan. He made his professional debut in September 1968. He holds the record jointly with Oshio for the most tournaments fought in the juryo division, at 55. He spent four tournaments in the top makuuchi division, peaking at maegashira 6 in November 1984. At around 108 kg (238 lb) he was one of the lightest sekitori. He retired in 1987 and became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name Onogawa until his death in 2001.
Michiro Endo (Japanese: 遠藤 ミチロウ, Hepburn: Endō Michirō; November 15, 1950 – April 25, 2019) was a Japanese musician…
Michiro Endo (Japanese: 遠藤 ミチロウ, Hepburn: Endō Michirō; November 15, 1950 – April 25, 2019) was a Japanese musician, author and socialist activist. He was best known as frontman of the influential punk rock band The Stalin. He gained notoriety for his stage antics, having once thrown a severed pig's head into the audience.
Kaoru Yumi (由美 かおる, Yumi Kaoru; born November 12, 1950) is a Japanese actress.
Tetsurō Kashibuchi (かしぶち 哲郎, Kashibuchi Tetsurō; November 9, 1950 – December 17, 2013) was a Japanese musician…
Tetsurō Kashibuchi (かしぶち 哲郎, Kashibuchi Tetsurō; November 9, 1950 – December 17, 2013) was a Japanese musician, composer, and record producer.
Yasuhisa Shiozaki (塩崎 恭久, Shiozaki Yasuhisa; born 7 November 1950) is a Japanese politician who served as Chief Cabinet…
Yasuhisa Shiozaki (塩崎 恭久, Shiozaki Yasuhisa; born 7 November 1950) is a Japanese politician who served as Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe until August 2007.
Sega Corporation is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It…
Sega Corporation is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several multi-million-selling game franchises for arcades and consoles including Sonic the Hedgehog, Angry Birds, Football Manager, Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo, Super Monkey Ball, Bayonetta, Total War, Virtua Fighter, Megami Tensei, Sakura Wars, Persona, and Yakuza. From 1983 until 2001, Sega also developed its own consoles. Sega was founded by Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart as Nihon Goraku Bussan on June 3, 1960. Shortly after, it acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan. In 1965, it became known as Sega Enterprises, Ltd., after acquiring Rosen Enterprises, an importer of coin-operated games. Sega developed its first coin-operated game, Periscope, in 1966. Sega was sold to Gulf and Western Industries in 1969. Following a downturn in the arcade business in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles, starting with the SG-1000 and Master System, but struggled against competitors such as the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1984, Sega executives David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama led a management buyout, with backing from CSK Corporation. In 1988, Sega released the Mega Drive (the "Genesis" in North America). The Mega Drive struggled against competition in Japan, but the Genesis found success overseas after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and briefly outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, in the US. In 2001, after several commercial failures such as the 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast, Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher, and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004. Sega Holdings Co., Ltd. was established in 2015; Sega Corporation was renamed to Sega Games Co., Ltd., and its arcade division was split into Sega Interactive. In 2020, Sega Games and Sega Interactive merged to become Sega Corporation. Sega's international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California, and London. Its development studios include its internal research and development divisions (which utilize the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sonic Team brands for several core franchise entries), Sega Sapporo Studio which mainly provides support for the Tokyo-based development teams as well as handling partial game development, and Atlus (including its R&D divisions) and five development studios in the UK and Europe: Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive, Sega Hardlight, Two Point Studios, and Rovio Entertainment (including Ruby Games). Sega is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers and its mascot, Sonic, is internationally recognized. Sega is recognized for its video game consoles, creativity and innovations. In more recent years, it has been criticized for its business decisions and the quality of its creative output. Being the entertainment contents division of Sega Sammy Holdings, forming one half of the Sega Sammy Group, Sega also owns a toy and amusement machine company, Sega Fave, which comprises its arcade development and manufacturing divisions and two animation studios: TMS Entertainment, which animates, produces, and distributes anime, and Marza Animation Planet, which specializes in CG animation.
Yoshio Hoshino (星野 好男, Hoshino Yoshio; born 2 November 1950) is a Japanese ice hockey player. He competed in the men's…
Yoshio Hoshino (星野 好男, Hoshino Yoshio; born 2 November 1950) is a Japanese ice hockey player. He competed in the men's tournaments at the 1972 Winter Olympics, the 1976 Winter Olympics and the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Toshihiro Mori (Mori Toshihiro) is a Japanese master of Shotokan karate. He has won the JKA's version of the world…
Toshihiro Mori (Mori Toshihiro) is a Japanese master of Shotokan karate. He has won the JKA's version of the world championships for kumite. He has also won the JKA All-Japan championships for kumite on two occasions. He is currently an instructor shihan of the Japan Karate Association.
Yoshihiro Kawakami (川上 義博, Kawakami Yoshihiro; born October 26, 1950) is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party…
Yoshihiro Kawakami (川上 義博, Kawakami Yoshihiro; born October 26, 1950) is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Tōhaku District, Tottori and graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 2003 after serving in the assembly of Tottori Prefecture for two terms. He lost his seat in 2005 but was re-elected in 2007.
Kozo Arai (荒井 公三, Arai Kōzō; born October 24, 1950) is a former Japanese footballer. He played for Japan national team.
Makoto Kamada (鎌田 誠, Kamada Makoto; born 21 October 1950) is a Japanese former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer…
Makoto Kamada (鎌田 誠, Kamada Makoto; born 21 October 1950) is a Japanese former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Satomi Koike (小池 里美, Koike Satomi; born 19 October 1950) is a Japanese speed skater. She competed in two events at the…
Satomi Koike (小池 里美, Koike Satomi; born 19 October 1950) is a Japanese speed skater. She competed in two events at the 1972 Winter Olympics.
Takashi Hikino (曳野 孝, Hikino Takashi; 18 October 1950 – 15 March 2022 in Osaka, Japan) is specially appointed professor…
Takashi Hikino (曳野 孝, Hikino Takashi; 18 October 1950 – 15 March 2022 in Osaka, Japan) is specially appointed professor at the Graduate School of Management at Kyoto University after serving as associate professor of industrial and business organization at the Graduate School of Management at Kyoto University where he taught industrial organization, business economics, and corporate strategy, and comparative management since 1998. He attended Hitotsubashi University, where he studied at the Graduate School of Sociology(B.A(1973). and M.A.(1975)) His best known work is Big Business and the Wealth of Nations (edited by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., Franco Amatori, and Hikino, ISBN 0-521-48123-6). He also teaches Japanese Business and Economic Development to American students at the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. Hikino is loved for his sense of humor and general sarcasm. In a 1998 article in World Policy Journal, "What can an activist government do?", Hikino and co-author Alice Amsden contended that East Asian governments would rebound from the ongoing currency crisis, and that in order to hasten that rebound they shouldn't take to heart the advice they were getting from the western industrialized powers, because "this is what got them into trouble in the first place." East Asian companies have developed a system that is more reliant on activist government than that of the "North Atlantic" economies, the article said.
Shiro Nakamura (中村 史郎, Nakamura Shirō; born 17 October 1950) is a former Japanese car designer and company executive.…
Shiro Nakamura (中村 史郎, Nakamura Shirō; born 17 October 1950) is a former Japanese car designer and company executive. Nakamura served as Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. From 2006, Nakamura had been Nissan's Chief Creative Officer. He was Chief Creative Officer of Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun. Nakamura retired in 2017. Known as a hands-on creative, he goes by the nickname "Fingers".
Yasunori Oshima (大島 康徳, Ōshima Yasunori; October 16, 1950 – June 30, 2021) was a Japanese professional baseball…
Yasunori Oshima (大島 康徳, Ōshima Yasunori; October 16, 1950 – June 30, 2021) was a Japanese professional baseball outfielder, first baseman and third baseman, and coach in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He played for the Chunichi Dragons and Nippon Ham Fighters from 1971 to 1994. He went on to manage the Fighters from 2000 to 2002, and served as the hitting coach for the Japan national baseball team during the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Tetsuro Matsuzawa (松沢 哲郎, Matsuzawa Tetsurō; born October 15, 1950) is a primatologist who was a past director of the…
Tetsuro Matsuzawa (松沢 哲郎, Matsuzawa Tetsurō; born October 15, 1950) is a primatologist who was a past director of the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University. He graduated from Kyoto University with a B.A. degree in 1974, a Psy.M. degree in 1976 and a Ph.D. degree in Science in 1989. Matsuzawa is known for his research on chimpanzee intelligence both in the laboratory and in the wild. His laboratory work consists of the "Ai project", which focuses on the language-like skills, number-concepts, and memory ability of a female chimpanzee named Ai. Started in 1978, it is one of the longest running laboratory research projects on chimpanzee intelligence. Matsuzawa has been a part of the project since the beginning. Matsuzawa has also studied tool use in the wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea, West Africa since 1986. The bossou chimpanzee community consists of about 12 individuals and has been studied by Japanese researchers for three decades. Bossou chimps are well known to use a pair of stones as hammer and anvil to crack open oil-palm nuts. Long-term research on wild chimpanzee tool use revealed interesting topics like handedness of use of a hammer, critical period of learning nut-cracking at around 3 to 5 year old, "education by master-apprenticeship" and observational learning, possession of stones, deception, new tool use like algae-scooping, use of leaves for cushions, cultural variation in adjacent communities, etc. Matsuzawa's approach to research is to synthesize the field work and the laboratory work in order to understand the nature of chimpanzees, our evolutionary neighbors. Matsuzawa is well known for his research on chimpanzee memory, which suggests that chimpanzees outperform humans on some simple memory tasks. He has argued that this is evidence of a memorial capacity in young chimpanzees that is superior to that seen in adult humans. However, the accuracy of these findings has been disputed. A. Silberberg and D. Kearns have argued that the performance difference between human and chimpanzee trials can be explained by training effects on the tested chimpanzees. They did reach Ayumu's performance level after thousands of trials, as did humans in a subsequent study with training more closely matching that of the chimpanzees, but only for 5 numbers whereas Ayumu effortlessly does it for 9. In 2020, Kyoto University announced that Matsuzawa was involved in misappropriating the funding of Primate Research Institute.
Shigekatsu Katsuta (勝田 薫且, Katsuta Shigekatsu; born October 12, 1950), known professionally as Takeshi Kaga (鹿賀 丈史…
Shigekatsu Katsuta (勝田 薫且, Katsuta Shigekatsu; born October 12, 1950), known professionally as Takeshi Kaga (鹿賀 丈史, Kaga Takeshi), is a Japanese actor who is best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show Iron Chef produced by Fuji TV.
Yasutsune Uehara (上原 康恒, Uehara Yasutsune; born October 12, 1949 in Okinawa, Japan) is a former professional boxer and…
Yasutsune Uehara (上原 康恒, Uehara Yasutsune; born October 12, 1949 in Okinawa, Japan) is a former professional boxer and former WBA and lineal super featherweight champion. He is one of the few Japanese boxers to have won the world title fighting outside Japan.
Masanori Konishi (小西 正紀, Konishi Masanori) (born October 9, 1950), better known as Yoshiyuki Konishi (小西 良幸, Konishi…
Masanori Konishi (小西 正紀, Konishi Masanori) (born October 9, 1950), better known as Yoshiyuki Konishi (小西 良幸, Konishi Yoshiyuki) is a Japanese fashion designer who is represented by the talent agency Someday. He is nicknamed Don Konishi (ドン 小西). He was divorced and is now single.
Hideaki Katō (Japanese: 加藤秀明, Hepburn: Katō Hideaki; born October 9, 1950), known professionally as Reichi Nakaido…
Hideaki Katō (Japanese: 加藤秀明, Hepburn: Katō Hideaki; born October 9, 1950), known professionally as Reichi Nakaido (仲井戸麗市, Nakaido Reichi) and nicknamed Chabo, is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as one of the guitarists and vocalists of the rock band RC Succession. Nakaido was voted the third greatest Japanese guitarist in a 2019 poll held by goo.
Eiko Hirashima (平島栄子, Hirashima Eiko; born 7 October 1950) is a Japanese gymnast. She competed at the 1972 Summer…
Eiko Hirashima (平島栄子, Hirashima Eiko; born 7 October 1950) is a Japanese gymnast. She competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics.