Norio Wada, former Vice-President of the International Go Federation (IGF), Chairman of the Nihon
Kiin (NK), and inaugural President of the Iwamoto North American Go Foundation (INAF), passed away on January 9. “His death is a significant loss to the global Go community, and especially to players and organizers in North America who benefited from his leadership, vision, and generosity,” said Thomas Hsiang, INAF founding director.
After retiring in 2012 as Chairman and CEO of NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone), Mr. Wada did not step back from public life. Instead, he took on a new and demanding role, assuming leadership of the Nihon Kiin during a period of serious financial difficulty and internal division.
Through steady judgment, personal commitment, and a calm leadership style, he guided the organization through a successful recovery. By his second retirement in 2016, the Nihon Kiin had regained financial stability and a renewed sense of institutional unity.
In 2013 and 2014, Mr. Wada met with Thomas Hsiang, who—together with successive AGA presidents Allan Abramson and Andy Okun—proposed using the proceeds from the sale of the former Nihon Kiin–owned New York Go Center to establish a new philanthropic foundation dedicated to supporting and promoting Go in North America.
Mr. Wada immediately recognized the importance of the proposal. In 2014, he joined Hsiang and his colleagues in founding the Iwamoto North American Go Foundation, establishing a durable framework for long-term investment in the growth of Go outside Asia.
Since its founding, INAF has supported a wide range of initiatives, including the AGA National Go Center in Washington, D.C., and the 2025 World Amateur Go Championship in Vancouver, the first world-level Go event ever held outside Asia.
Mr. Hsiang remembers his longtime friend as “very smart and decisive, yet warm and humorous.” Those who worked with Mr. Wada recall not only an effective and principled leader, but someone who genuinely cared about people and about the game of Go itself. “The North American Go community owes him a profound debt of gratitude and will miss him greatly,” said Hsiang.
photo (l-r): Shusuke MASAKI - Nihon Kiin CEO in 2014, Andy Okun, David Weimer, Norio WADA, and Thomas Hsiang.