Photo/Illutration Tetsuko Kuroyanagi (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, whose work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador has taken her to conflict zones around the world for nearly four decades, said her heart bleeds for the plight of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip.

The 90-year-old actress said she makes it a point to discuss issues like World War II, particularly the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when she appears on high-profile TV programs that attract big audiences.

“No country should use them or have them,” Kuroyanagi said in a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun, referring to nuclear weapons. “It is strange that some countries possess them nonetheless.”

She is known for her book, “Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window,” which has been translated into more than 20 languages. Totto-chan was her childhood nickname.

Excerpts from the interview follow:

* * *

“The Best Ten,” a TV music program I was hosting, was broadcast live from Hiroshima on the night of Aug. 6, 1981.

Singer Hiromi Iwasaki sang “Sumireiro no Namida” (Violet tears) on the roof of a building with the Atomic Bomb Dome in the background.

We were in a studio in Tokyo, which was linked to Hiroshima, and showed pictures of Hiroshima burned to the ground by the atomic bombing.

I wanted young people who had never known war to know the horrors of the atomic bombing.

“Everyone, including young people, please join forces so that a tragedy like this will never be repeated and everyone will be glad for peace,” I told audiences sitting in front of their TV sets.

On “Tetsuko’s Room,” my TV talk show, I have asked many guests about their wartime experiences.

Guests included hibakusha atomic bomb survivors, such as Edoya Nekohachi III, an entertainer known for his art of mimicking animal sounds; Iri and Toshi Maruki, a couple of painters who created the series “The Hiroshima Panels,” and Keiji Nakazawa, the manga artist of “Hadashi no Gen” (The Barefoot Gen) fame.

But they have all passed away.

I also heard experiences of atomic bombings from singer Akihiro Miwa and former professional baseball player Isao Harimoto.

I think it is necessary to talk about war on a program that everyone knows and watches all the time.

Next year will be the 40th year since I was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.

I have interacted with children living in conflict zones such as Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Now, the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory, is under attack from Israel.

The situation is absolutely unacceptable as I watch images of children being victimized.

War inflicts scars, both physical and psychological, that people will never forget in their lifetime.

Everyone must know that it is wrong to start a war. And yet, there are people who do.

Nuclear weapons are no different.

Not only do they destroy and burn objects at a moment’s notice, but they also ruin human bodies.

No country should use them or have them. It is strange that some countries possess them, nonetheless.

My dream is to become a political reporter at the age of 100.

What if I were to ask the Japanese government about its policy on abolition of nuclear weapons?

I really do not want to even discuss such a thing.

Japan experienced atomic bombings. I think it is more absurd than anything else if there are politicians who do not understand how horrible nuclear weapons are.

(This article is based on an interview by Asako Hanafusa.)

* * *

A native of Tokyo, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi majored in singing at what is now the Tokyo College of Music and joined a theater company of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) in 1953, when television broadcasting began.

The actress began hosting the TV program “Tetsuko’s Room” in 1976.

“Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window,” a book in which she wrote about her childhood, was released in 1981.

The book has been translated into more than 20 languages and a total of 25.1 million copies had been sold worldwide as of the end of September.

A sequel to the book was published in October, and an animated movie of the same title will be released Dec. 8.

Related News