Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Expand Japanese Template:Infobox person Template:Nihongo is a Japanese actress, television personality, World Wide Fund for Nature advisor, and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.<ref name="unicef1"/><ref name="nyt"/> 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 Template:Nihongo 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It has also been adapted into a television series twice.
She is also known for her charitable works, and is considered one of the first Japanese celebrities to achieve international recognition.<ref name="metro" /> In 2006, Donald Richie referred to Kuroyanagi in his book Japanese Portraits: Pictures of Different People as "the most popular and admired woman in Japan."<ref>Japanese Portraits: Pictures of Different People Book by Donald Richie. Limited preview at Google Books.</ref>
Early lifeEdit
Kuroyanagi was born in Tokyo City, Tokyo Prefecture (now Tokyo). Her father was a violinist and a concertmaster.<ref name="famous japan">Kuroyanagi Tetsuko profile from kyoto-su.ac.jp.</ref> Her nickname as a child was Totto-chan, according to her 1981 autobiographical memoir.<ref name="famous japan"/>
EducationEdit
Kuroyanagi studied at the Tokyo College of Music, majoring in opera, as she intended to become an opera singer.<ref name="metro">Walker, James BIG IN JAPAN Tetsuko Kuroyanagi Template:Webarchive from Metropolis Magazine</ref> 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).<ref name="famous japan"/><ref name="metro"/>
CareerEdit
After voicing Lady Penelope in the Thunderbirds TV series,<ref>黒柳徹子が47年ぶりに『サンダーバード』声優へ「徹子の部屋と違うでしょ」 from mynavi.jp/news</ref> Kuroyanagi first became well known in 1975 when she established her afternoon television program Template:Nihongo4, which was the first talk show on Japanese television.<ref name="famous japan"/><ref name="metro"/><ref name="gb"/> The show was broadcast by the private television channel TV Asahi, and featured Kuroyanagi's discussions with celebrities from various fields, including television, sport and politics.<ref name="metro"/><ref name="gb">Gender, Language and Culture: A Study of Japanese Television Interview Discourse Book by Lidia Tanaka. Limited preview at Google Books.</ref> 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".<ref name="time"/> Statistics show that, by the early 1990s, Kuroyanagi had interviewed over two thousand Japanese and foreign guests.<ref name="gb"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is acknowledged that her warmness as an interviewer and skilled art of talking is a factor that made the TV program live long.<ref name="osuedu">Famous People of Japan: Tetsuko KUROYANAGI Teaching materials. Archive by Institute for Japanese Studies, at Ohio State University.</ref><ref name="metro"/> She is also familiar to Japanese audiences with her regular appearance on the television quiz show "World Mysteries".<ref name="metro"/><ref name="jtimes">Limp prose from an angel of mercy from The Japan Times Online.</ref>
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.<ref name="time">Little Girl at the TV Window from Time magazine</ref> The book was first translated to English in 1984 by Dorothy Britton, and it was published in more than 30 countries.<ref name="famous japan"/>
Charitable worksEdit
Kuroyanagi is known internationally for her charitable and fund raising works.<ref name="metro"/> She founded the Totto Foundation, named for the eponymous and autobiographical protagonist of her book Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window.<ref name="famous japan"/><ref name="unicef1"/> The Foundation professionally trains deaf actors, implementing Kuroyanagi's vision of bringing theater to the deaf.
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.<ref name="unicef1"/> During the late 1980s and the 1990s, she visited many developing countries in Asia and Africa for charitable works and goodwill missions, helping children who had suffered from disasters and war as well as raising international awareness of the situations of children in poor countries.<ref name="osuedu"/><ref name="famous japan"/><ref name="jtimes"/> Her visit to Angola in 1989 was the first recorded VIP visit from Japan to this country, and marked a milestone for the diplomatic relation between Japan and Angola.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kuroyanagi has raised more than $20 million for the UNICEF programmes that she has been involved in, through television fund-raising campaigns.<ref name="unicef pdf">http://www.unicef.org/ar98/ar98eng3.pdf. Template:Webarchive</ref> She also used the royalties from her bestselling book, Totto-chan, to contribute to UNICEF.<ref name="metro"/><ref name="unicef pdf"/> Kuroyanagi also participated in the international UNICEF ‘Say Yes for Children’ campaign, along with other celebrities.<ref name="unicef1"/>
In 1997, Kuroyanagi published the book "Totto-chan's Children", which was based on her experience working for as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador from 1984 to 1996.<ref name="metro"/><ref name="jtimes"/> Kuroyanagi is a director of the Japanese branch of the World Wildlife Fund.
Kuroyanagi has twice brought America's National Theater of the Deaf to Japan,<ref>National Theater of the Deaf (US): NTD moves to ASD in West Hartford, CT (2004);</ref><ref>NTD/ASD press release: NTD moves to ASD campus</ref> acting with them in sign language.<ref name="nyt">"Distinctions Blur as Deaf Actors Share a Stage," New York Times. August 29, 1988.</ref><ref>Kodansha International: about the author; Template:Webarchive Sanger, David.</ref>
HonoursEdit
For her involvement in media and television entertainment, Kuroyanagi won the Japanese Cultural Broadcasting Award, which is the highest television honour in Japan. Since then, she has been voted 14 times as Japan’s favourite television personality, for the show Tetsuko’s Room.<ref name="unicef1"/>
In 2000, Kuroyanagi became the first recipient of the Global Leadership for Children Award, which was established by UNICEF in the 10th anniversary of the 1990 World Summit for Children.<ref name="unicef1"/> In May 2003, Kuroyanagi received Order of the Sacred Treasure in recognition of her two decades of service for the world’s children.<ref name="unicef1">UNICEF: Goodwill Ambassador Kuroyanagi</ref><ref>L'Harmattan web site (in French), Order with gold rays and cross</ref><ref>UNICEF to give award to actress Kuroyanagi for advocacy work Archived at Findarticles.com</ref>
FilmographyEdit
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)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Breaking of Branches Is Forbidden (voice actor) (1968, dir. Kihachirō Kawamoto)<ref name="jtnews">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Summer Soldiers (1972)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Anne no Nikki (The Diary of Anne Frank) as Mrs. Petronella Van Daan (voice actor) (1995)
- The Book of the Dead (voice actor) (2005)
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:Commons category-inline
- Official Homepage as Totto channel Template:Webarchive Template:In lang
- Homepage for Tetsuko's Room Template:In lang
- [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0961243
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