49 Notable alumni of Sophia University

Lydia N. Yu-Jose was a Filipino professor of political science and Japanese Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. A graduate of Sophia University, she was best known for her research into the history of Japan–Philippines relations, as well as aiding in the development of Japanese studies in the Philippines as a separate academic discipline.

Joseph Morris Gersten was an American politician in the state of Florida.

Eli Lancman was an Israeli historian of Japanese and East Asian art. Developer and director of the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art in Haifa from 1966 to 1992, he was also one of the founders of the Israel-Japan Friendship Society.

Roger Lee Steele. Raised in Wichita Falls, Texas, Steele was an American-born graphic artist/printmaker living in South Carolina best known for his lithography, an artistic process also known as relief printing. He was a printmaker specializing in the color-blend or split fountain technique, often incorporating traditional chine-collé gold leaf techniques in his work. His abstract color graphics are frequently suggestive...

Masayuki Fujio was the Japanese Minister of Education, under the government of Yasuhiro Nakasone until 1986. He was a member of the right-wing Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, where he was described as being a "loyal vassal" to Takeo Fukuda, the founder of the faction.

Cara Black is an American mystery writer. She is best known for the twenty-one novel mystery series featuring Aimée Leduc a female Paris-based private investigator, as well as the thrillers Three Hours in Paris, a national bestseller, and Night Flight to Paris. Black is included in the Great Women Mystery Writers by Elizabeth Lindsay 2nd edition. Her first novel Murder...

Tetsuo Kogawa is a Japanese performance artist, activist and media theorist who works extensively with radio art and microbroadcasting. Until 2012, he worked as a professor in Department of Communication Studies at Tokyo Keizai University, and has written extensively on media philosophy, information technology and film in both Japanese and English.

James Steven Bregman was a member of the first American team to compete in judo at the Summer Olympics. A founding member and President of the United States Judo Federation, in his competitive career he was a bronze Olympic medalist (1964), a World Championships bronze medalist (1965), a Pan American Championships gold medalist, and a Maccabiah Games gold medalist (1965).

Armand Lind Mauss was an American sociologist specializing in the sociology of religion. He was Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Religious Studies at Washington State University and was the most frequently published author of Sociology works on Mormons during his long career. A special conference on his work in Mormon studies was held in 2013 at California's Claremont Graduate University...

Michiyoshi Doi was a Japanese film director. He directed films from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Koichi Kato is a Japanese politician from Tokyo and a member of the Democratic Party of Japan. A native of Chiyoda, Tokyo and graduate of Sophia University, he worked at Recruit from 1988 to 1996. Kato was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000 and served until 2012.

Toshitsugu Saito is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet from 1986 to 2009. A native of Fuji, Shizuoka and graduate of Sophia University, he attended Waseda University for graduate study and business school at the University of Washington in the United States.

Yoshio Maki is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ).

Kiyoshi Adachi is a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Councillors of Japan from 2019 until his resignation in 2023 to run for Governor of Ōita Prefecture. He represented the Ōita at-large district as an independent.

Morshed Khan is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the minister of foreign affairs of Bangladesh from 2001 until 2006. He served as a Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Chittagong-10 constituency in the 6th, 7th and 8th parliaments.He is the founder chairman of one of the leading private bank - AB Bank Limited and Pacific Motors limited.

Yasushi Watanabe is a Japanese anthropologist and a full professor at Keio University. He earned a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at Harvard University in 1997. After post-doctoral fellowships at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, he joined Keio University's Graduate School of Media and Governance as well as Faculty of Environment and Information Studies in 1999. He attained the rank of full...

Pak Song-chol or Park Sung-chul was a North Korean politician who served as Premier of North Korea from 1976 to 1977. He succeeded Kim Il. He also served as foreign minister from 1959 to 1970.

Mitsuhide Iwaki is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the National Diet (national legislature). A native of Iwaki, Fukushima and graduate of Sophia University with a B.L., he worked at Suntory and served in the city assembly of Iwaki for two terms since 1980, in the assembly of Fukushima Prefecture...

Hideo Saito was a Japanese cellist, conductor, and music lecturer.

Tadashi Tokieda is a Japanese mathematician, working in mathematics and physics. He is a professor of mathematics at Stanford University; previously he was a fellow and Director of Studies of Mathematics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He is also very active in inventing, collecting, and studying toys that uniquely reveal and explore real-world surprises of mathematics and physics. In comparison with...

Kosaburo Nishime, is a Japanese politician who has served in the House of Representatives representing Okinawa since 2012. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Fumiaki Kobayashi is a Japanese politician representing Hiroshima 7th district in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet, for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Alan Merrill was an American vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. In the early 1970s, he was one of the few resident foreigners in Japan to achieve pop star status there. He wrote the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", and was the lead singer on the original recording of it, made by the band the Arrows in 1975. The song became...

Aiko Shimajiri is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, who has served as a member of the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). Shimajiri was elected for the first time in 2007 and re-elected in 2010 in Okinawa Prefecture constituency. Shimajiri was appointed the Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern...

Ōsama is a Japanese musician and guitarist. He is from Nishinomiya in Hyōgo Prefecture.

Yūki Yamato is a Japanese screenwriter and director. She has adapted and directed film versions of Hot Gimmick and Drowning Love, and was named Best New Director at the 24th Japan Film Professional Awards. She has also directed music videos for Nogizaka46, Momoiro Clover Z, and Radwimps.

Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (Korean: 김수환 스테파노; Hanja: 金壽煥 스테파노; July 2, 1922 – February 16, 2009) was a Korean prelate of the Catholic Church and the Korea's first elevated to the rank of cardinal. He is a former archbishop of Seoul, South Korea. Having been an iconic figure in South Korea's bloody and tumultuous transition from military rule to democracy,...

Mitsuko Ishii is a Japanese politician who has served as a member of the House of Councillors of Japan since 2016. She represents the National proportional representation block and is a member of the Japan Innovation Party.

Mukhriz bin Mahathir is a Malaysian politician and businessman who served as the 11th and 13th Menteri Besar of Kedah from May 2013 to February 2016 and again from May 2018 to May 2020, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak as well as...

Kōichirō Genba is a Japanese politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2012. He is a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet, and was a member to the Democratic Party of Japan and its successor Democratic Party until its merger in 2018. He left the party briefly before the merger, and joined the...

Jin Akiyama is a Japanese mathematician, known for his appearances on Japanese prime-time television (NHK) presenting magic tricks with mathematical explanations. He is director of the Mathematical Education Research Center at the Tokyo University of Science, and professor emeritus at Tokai University.

Tina Chow was an American model and jewelry designer who was considered an influential fashion icon of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the second wife of restaurateur Michael Chow, the founder and owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain.

Yukari Satō is a Japanese economist and former politician of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Judy Ongg is a Taiwanese-Japanese singer, actress, author, and woodblock-print artist. Born in Taipei, she graduated from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and after which, she became a naturalized Japanese citizen. Her career has spanned more than four decades.

Crystal Kay Williams is a Japanese-born singer, songwriter, actress and radio host.

Hideto Tomabechi is a Japanese cognitive scientist (computational linguistics, functional brain science, cognitive psychology, cognitive warfare, analytic philosophy) computer scientist (distributed processing, discrete mathematics, artificial intelligence, cyber security).

Takuya Hirai is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Takamatsu, Kagawa and graduate of Sophia University he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000 as a member of the New Frontier Party after running unsuccessfully as an...

Dave Spector is an American gaijin tarento, television producer, author, and actor based in Japan. Originally from Chicago, he moved to Japan in 1983 after visiting as a producer with the American television program Ripley's Believe It or Not!. He appears regularly as a commentator on several different Japanese television programs, including a Wednesday spot on Fuji TV's daily morning...

Kuniko Inoguchi is a Japanese political scientist and politician. She served as Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs from 2005 to 2006, and is currently a member of the House of Councillors representing Chiba Prefecture for the Liberal Democratic Party.

Sumire Uesaka is a Japanese voice actress and singer associated with Voice Kit. She first began her career as a junior talent in 2000, appearing in various commercials. In 2011, she transitioned into voice acting. She won the Best Rookie Actress at the 10th Seiyu Awards. In addition to voice acting, Uesaka began a music career in April 2013 under...

Seiko Noda is a Japanese politician who served as Minister-in-charge of Measures against Declining Birthrate from October 2021 to August 2022. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, she previously served as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications from 2017 to 2018 under Shinzo Abe. Noda also serves in the House of Representatives, serving her fifth term for the 1st...

Carrie Ann Inaba is an American television personality, dancer, choreographer, actress, and singer. She is best known for her work on ABC's Dancing with the Stars for which she has served as a judge since 2005. She co-hosted and moderated the CBS Daytime talk show The Talk from 2019 to 2021. She started her career as a singer in Japan,...

Morihiro Hosokawa is a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994. He led an eight-party coalition government which was the first Japanese government not headed by a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) premier since 1955.

Beni Arashiro is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Nayutawave Records under Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI).

George Takei is an American actor, author, and activist. He is known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the Star Trek franchise.

Li Linsi, born Li Jiaxiang (厉家祥), was a Chinese educator, diplomat, and scholar who has been recognized as one of the key figures in modern Chinese cultural and diplomatic history. Hailed as China's Mahatma Gandhi, Li was the leader of China's nonviolent resistance against Japanese aggression. His military research contributed to China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was known...

Hassan Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel is a Saudi businessman and philanthropist. He is deputy president and vice chairman of Saudi Arabia operations at the international conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel.

Adolfo Nicolás Pachón SJ was a Spanish Catholic priest who served as the 30th superior general of the Society of Jesus from 2008 to 2016. He previously taught at Sophia University in Tokyo for twenty years and headed educational institutions in Manila from 1978 to 1984 and in Tokyo from 1991 to 1993. He led the Jesuits in Japan from...