is a Japanese female announcer and

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

for NHK. Wakuda previously is one of the anchors hosting

NHK General TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK G, is the main television service of NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster. Its programming includes news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime, and specials which compete directly with the output of i ...

's primetime news program '' News Watch 9''.

Early years

Wakuda was born in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

, Japan. At age two, she moved with her family to

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. She returned to Japan when she was five years old, and was raised in

Kawasaki Kawasaki ( ja, 川崎, Kawasaki, river peninsula, links=no) may refer to: Places *Kawasaki, Kanagawa, a Japanese city **Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, a ward in Kawasaki, Kanagawa **Kawasaki City Todoroki Arena **Kawasaki Stadium, a multi-sport stadium *K ...

and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

. Wakuda attended Joshigakuin Junior & Senior High School in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, graduating in 2007, where she belonged to a performing arts club and played straight plays and musicals in English language. She then went to

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, one of Japan's most prestigious universities, from which she received the BEc degree in March 2011. As an undergraduate, she was a manager and trainer of the university's men's lacrosse club.

Career

After graduating from University of Tokyo in 2011, Wakuda was hired by NHK. Several months later she was sent to NHK Okayama Branch where she started her career as a broadcaster. In April 2014, Wakuda was relocated to Tokyo Announcement Room and appointed to a weekend & holiday newscaster of the morning news show '' NHK News Ohayō Nippon''. One year later she became a weekday anchor of the show, starring every weekday from 6:00 am to 8:00 am JST. On January 17, 2015, Wakuda was reporting from

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, w ...

, Japan, which the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake hit on that day 20 years before. In May 2017, Wakuda conducted an interview with Masayoshi Yoshino, the minister responsible for disaster reconstruction in the Tohoku Region. In August 2017, she also interviewed with each minister newly chosen by Japanese Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

in those days. Each interview was broadcast on ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' in the end of the month. In the beginning of September 2018, Wakuda, together with

Yurie Omi is a Japanese former announcer and news anchor for NHK. She left NHK in March 2021. She was famous for being the co-host of NHK's morning talk show ''Asaichi'' as well as its geological television series ''Bura Tamori''. Early years Omi was ...

, conducted an exclusive interview with

Namie Amuro Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...

, one of Japan's leading pop singers who was planning to end her musical career on September 16, 2018. This interview aired in ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' on September 10, 2018. NHK announced on February 13, 2020, that Wakuda would be stepping back from ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' and move to '' News Watch 9'' in April 2020. The anchor of ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' was handed over to Maho Kuwako, who was at that time one of the anchors of ''News Watch 9''. NHK announced on February 10, 2022, that Wakuda would be stepping down from ''News Watch 9'' and she will be in charge of special features and narration in April 2022. The anchor of ''News Watch 9'' was handed over to Izumi Yamauchi, who was at that time one of the anchors of ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon''.

Personal life

It was reported that Wakuda had got married early in 2019 with a man whose name was not disclosed.

References

External links

Mayuko Wakuda, NHK Announcement Room , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakuda, Mayuko 1988 births Living people University of Tokyo alumni Japanese announcers Japanese television personalities Japanese television presenters Japanese women television presenters People from Kanagawa Prefecture

Early years

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links