On March 22nd, the graduation ceremony of Keio Girls’ High School was held and one of the alumni attending was none other than actress and singer Mana Ashida (18), who rose to fame during her appearance in the drama “Mother” in 2010.
In April Mana will be entering the Department of Political Science at Keio University, one of Japan’s top private universities. On the other hand, freelance announcer Maiko Ogasawara hopes she will continue acting.
Ogasawara revealed “I would like Mana to continue being an actress, but I think she is also suitable for being a newscaster. She can study journalism, so in the future she may also be hired as a news anchor like Sho Sakurai (a graduate of the Faculty of Economics department at the same university).”
Professor Emeritus Masaru Ikei, who taught at the same department for a long time, recalls the past when he struggled to recruit students. “It used to be called the ‘Department for Flattery and Idiots'”, he revealed. “However, when Midori Miyazaki, who graduated from 1981, became an NHK newscaster, the number of female applicants increased. When Ms. Ashida’s admission was decided, I received an excited email from a student saying, ‘Mana-chan will be my junior!!'” The “Mana-chan Effect” is expected to further increase the popularity of the department.
In 2019, an internet novel depicting the near future where Mana-chan is the prime minister was released and became a hot topic. By the looks of it, things are currently heading in that direction!
