Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

Author profile

born

August 09, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan

gender

female

genre

Education, Children's Books

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Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is an internationally famous Japanese actress, a talk show host, a best-selling author of children book.

She founded the Totto Foundation, named for the eponymous and autobiographical protagonist of her book Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window. 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. 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 a...more Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is an internationally famous Japanese actress, a talk show host, a best-selling author of children book.

She founded the Totto Foundation, named for the eponymous and autobiographical protagonist of her book Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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, acting with them in sign language.

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.[3]

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. In May 2003, Kuroyanagi received Order of the Sacred Treasure in recognition of her two decades of service for the world’s children.(less)

combine editions
Books by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

Average rating: 4.24 · 5,866 ratings · 864 reviews · 6 distinct works

	Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window 4.26 avg rating — 5,485 ratings — published 1981 — 25 editions	My rating:
	Totto-chan's Children: A Goodwill Journey to the Children of the World by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Ribkah Sukito (Translator), RC. Rully Larasati (Editor) 3.87 avg rating — 365 ratings — published 1997 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Best Of Totto Chan (Kodansha Bilingual Books) 4.43 avg rating — 14 ratings	My rating:
	Totto Chan To Totto Chantachi by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, 田沼武能 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2001	My rating:
	Chiisai Toki Kara Kangaetekita Koto 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2010	My rating:
	Encounter with Japan by Gakko Be, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1985	My rating:

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Quotes by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

“Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

tags: fear , totto-chan

16 people liked it

“Drying her eyes, Mother said to Totto-chan very slowly, "You're Japanese and Masao-chan comes from a country called Korea. But he's a child, just like you. So, Totto-chan, dear, don't ever think of people as different. Don't think, 'That person's a Japanese, or this person's a Korean.' Be nice to Masao-chan. It's so sad that some people think other people aren't nice just because they're Koreans.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

tags: discrimination , racial-discrimination , totto-chan

3 people liked it

Topics Mentioning This Author

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Around the World ...: Japan	5	88	Mar 11, 2012 12:45pm

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