Mayuko Wakuda

Mayuko Wakuda (和久田 麻由子, Wakuda Mayuko, born November 25, 1988^[1]) is a Japanese female announcer and news anchor for NHK. Wakuda previously is one of the anchors hosting NHK General TV's primetime news program News Watch 9.

Mayuko Wakuda
和久田 麻由子
Born	(1988-11-25) 25 November 1988 (age 34) Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Education	BEc, University of Tokyo
Occupations	news anchor journalist
Years active	2011–present
Employer	NHK
Television	News Watch 9 anchor (2020-2022) NHK News Ohayō Nippon anchor (2014–2020) Darwin ga kita!—Ikimono Shindensetsu— narrator (2015–2020)
Title	NHK Announcer
Term	2011–present
Spouse	name not disclosed ​ (m. 2019)​

Early years

Wakuda was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. At age two, she moved with her family to Houston, Texas. She returned to Japan when she was five years old, and was raised in Kawasaki and Yokohama. Wakuda attended Joshigakuin Junior & Senior High School in Tokyo, 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, 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.^[2]

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, 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 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, conducted an exclusive interview with Namie Amuro, 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.^[3][4]

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.^[5][6]

Personal life

It was reported that Wakuda had got married early in 2019 with a man whose name was not disclosed.^[7]

See also

• Kozo Takase
• Wataru Abe
• Maho Kuwako
• Yurie Omi
• Minori Chiba
• Nonoka Akaki

References

1. キー局現役女子アナのデータ分析 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
2. (in Japanese)
3. "NHK、朝の和久田アナと夜の桑子アナを入れ替えへ". Asahi Shimbun. February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
4. "2020年度「主な番組キャスター」一覧" (PDF). Retrieved February 13, 2020.
5. "NHK和久田麻由子アナの後継者候補「本命は山内泉アナ」の指摘も". NEWSポストセブン (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-03-26.
6. "2022年度 主な新キャスター" (PDF). Retrieved February 9, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
7. "スクープ！ＮＨＫ和久田アナ結婚していた "朝の顔"で人気、お相手は一般男性". March 5, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.

External links

• [1] Mayuko Wakuda, NHK Announcement Room

Media offices
Preceded by Naoko Suzuki	NHK News Ohayō Nippon Weekday Edition Anchor 2015–2020	Succeeded by Maho Kuwako
Preceded by Maho Kuwako	News Watch 9 Anchor 2020–2022	Succeeded by Izumi Yamauchi