is a Japanese journalist and author.

Life and career

Ikegami was born in Matsumoto,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He attended and graduated

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

in economics, and worked for

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

from 1973 to 2005, ultimately serving as the host of the network's news program for children, before resigning to work on a freelance basis. Ikegami is most known for appearing on numerous Japanese TV programs concerning

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

and current affairs as a host/commentator. He has also worked as a professor and a lecturer for a number of universities including

Meijo University is a private university in Japan. Its main campus is in Tempaku-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, and it has two other campuses in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. It had two faculty members who were Nobel laureates as of 2021. History The name Meij� ...

and

Tokyo Institute of Technology The Tokyo Institute of Technology () was a public university in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. It merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University to form the Institute of Science Tokyo on 1 October 2024. The Tokyo Institute of Technology was a De ...

Public profile

Ikegami has been ranked at or near the top as a critic, journalist and political commentator in numerous popularity surveys. He was voted an "ideal boss" in a 2012 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company survey, with respondents citing his knowledge of current affairs and the ease with which he explains them. The

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

included Ikegami as a potential candidate in a poll to determine potential candidates for the

2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election The 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on February 9, 2014 to replace outgoing Governor Naoki Inose, who resigned effective December 24, 2013. Yōichi Masuzoe was declared the winner in exit polling, with a substantial lead over the fi ...

, but Ikegami told the ''

Nikkan Sports is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background ...

'' tabloid that he had no interest in running and that he had already agreed to cover the election for the

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV (channel 9), branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent station, independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city and parts ...

television station.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikegami, Akira 1950 births Living people Japanese male journalists Japanese television journalists Japanese television presenters People from Matsumoto, Nagano Academic staff of Aichi Gakuin University Juzo Itami Award winners Keio University alumni