Sawako Noma

was a Japanese publisher who was president of Kodansha from 1987 until her death in 2011.

Biography Sawako Noma was born on 27 July 1943 in Tokyo. Noma was a son of war minister Korechika Anami and would later become the fifth president of Kodansha. and this was her first experience as a businesswoman. By 1990, annual profits of ¥152 billion made Kodansha the largest Japanese company headed by a woman president, which at the time was a rarity at only 4%. In 1996, she became president of the company's English-language division Kodansha International. She was also chair of the International Culture Forum, Japan Magazine Advertising, and Japan Publishing Club. She appeared at least three times in Fortunes 50 Most Powerful Women in Business global list in the 2000s.

Noma died of heart failure on 30 March 2011 at a Tokyo hospital, aged 67. In addition to a private family funeral, She was succeeded as president by her first-born son .