Kuroyanagi Tetsuko: Japan’s Queen of TV Talent

An institution in Japan, Kuroyanagi Tetsuko has been on Japanese TV for as long as it’s existed. But her beginnings were less promising.

By Ebby Brown

Kuroyanagi Tetsuko was born on August 9th, 1933 in Tokyo. Her father was an orchestra violinist, while her mother was an essayist. Her parents were cosmopolitan. They had foreign friends and liberal ideals. Her mother dressed in modern clothes and wore Western hairstyles popular with the modern girl crowd. Still, they hoped for and were confident their unborn child was a boy and chose a male name.

They were wrong. Setting the tone for her life, Tetsuko arrived, defying expectations and leaving them scrambling for a girl’s name. Thankfully, kanji are quite flexible, and they could use the boy character they chose after all.

She talks to birds!

Surrounded by artistic and extremely understanding parents, young Tetsuko flourished until she reached school age. While her parents turned a blind eye to her rambunctious and uninhibited nature, her first-grade teacher was less forgiving.

Opening and closing her desk incessantly. Calling over random street musicians to play loudly. Having full-on conversations with the birds outside instead of doing her lessons. Kuroyanagi Tetsuko could…