His father, who died when Obuchi was a student at Waseda University, was a politician.

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Noda graduated from Waseda University, which tends to produce business leaders, not Tokyo University which specializes in bureaucrats.

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Researchers at Waseda University in Tokyo have created a robotic "Terminator Rat" designed to torment its biological rodent counterparts.

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With drive and intelligence he graduated in policy economy from Waseda University in 1994 and passed the exam to become a lawyer (bengoshi) in 1996.

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Both 62, Mori and Obuchi attended Waseda University at the same time and were partners in the university's Yubenkai, a debating society that has produced many political luminaries.

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For example, the recently opened Tokyo Cyber Clinic is developing, with help from Waseda University, a virtual Tokyo subway (overcrowded for realism) to treat people who panic when surrounded or touched by others.

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Professor Shuji Hashimoto, director of the humanoid robotics centre at Waseda University in Tokyo, has a theory: robots need a solid dose of those Japanese manners (don't we all?) encompassed in the Japanese word kansei, which includes feelings, mood, intuitiveness and sensibility.

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