Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

is a Japanese actress and television personality. She has hosted the television program since 1975.

She joined NHK Broadcasting Theatre Company as the first television actress in 1953. In 1954, she made her debut as the lead actress in the radio drama Yambō Nimbō Tombō. In 1976, TV Asahi's Tetsuko's Room started airing. This program was recognized by the Guinness World Records in 2011 for having the highest number of broadcasts by the same host. It has been airing on weekdays at noon every week, and as of 2023, it has surpassed 11,000 episodes in its 48th year. Her autobiographical book, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, which depicts her childhood, became a post-WW2 bestseller with over 8 million copies sold in Japan and 25 million copies worldwide. It has also been adapted into a television series twice.

A World Wide Fund for Nature advisor and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, she is known for her charitable works, and is considered one of the first Japanese celebrities to achieve international recognition.

Early life Kuroyanagi was born in Tokyo City, Tokyo Prefecture (now Tokyo), the daughter of Moritsuna and Chō Kuroyanagi. Her father Moritsuna was a violinist and a concertmaster. Her nickname as a child was Totto-chan, according to her 1981 autobiographical memoir. After graduation, however, she was drawn to acting and the television entertainment industry by her joining Tokyo Hoso Gekidan. Subsequently, she became the first Japanese actress who was contracted to Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). Kuroyanagi first became well known in 1975 when she established her afternoon television program , which was the first talk show on Japanese television. Tetsuko's Room was very successful, and Kuroyanagi started to be referred to as a "phenomenon" in Japan, in contradiction to the image of "servile" and "wifely" women on Japanese television". It is acknowledged that her warmness as an interviewer and skilled art of talking is a factor that made the TV program live long.

1981 marked a turning point in her career, as Kuroyanagi published her children book Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, in which Kuroyanagi wrote about the values of the unconventional education that she received at Tomoe Gakuen elementary school during World War II, and her teacher Sosaku Kobayashi. The book is considered her childhood memoir, and upon release, it became the bestselling book in Japanese history. The book was first translated to English in 1984 by Dorothy Britton, and it was published in more than 30 countries.

Charitable works

Kuroyanagi is known internationally for her charitable and fund raising works. acting with them in sign language.

In 1984, in recognition of her charitable works, Kuroyanagi was appointed to be a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, being the first person from Asia to hold this position. Kuroyanagi has raised more than $20 million for the UNICEF programmes that she has been involved in, through television fund-raising campaigns. She also used the royalties from her bestselling book, Totto-chan, to contribute to UNICEF.

Filmography This is a partial list of films. Thunderbirds (voice actor) (1965–1966) - Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward (Japanese dub) Jack and the Witch (voice actor) (1967) Breaking of Branches Is Forbidden (voice actor) (1968, dir. Kihachirō Kawamoto) Summer Soldiers (1972) Anne no Nikki (The Diary of Anne Frank) as Mrs. Petronella Van Daan (voice actor) (1995) The Book of the Dead (voice actor) (2005)