Actor Junki Tozuka appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on February 18th. At his mother's urging, he participated in the Junon Super Boy Contest in November 2010 and won an award. He was not keen on the entertainment industry, but on the show he revealed the words of his mother that made him decide to get serious about it.
Totsuka-san is from Iwate Prefecture. He was 18 years old when the Great East Japan Earthquake happened. Because he was inland, he was not affected by the tsunami, but the town he lived in was a completely different place. The electricity was cut off due to a power outage, and he spent the time in his car to keep warm. "It was the first time I felt close to death," he said, and so he decided to get serious about a career in showbiz.
So my mother told me, "Don't stop moving forward. Now is the time to do something to enliven your hometown in your own way." This was the deciding factor.
When she was five years old, her parents divorced, and her mother ran a snack bar. When the earthquake struck, the bar lost power and customers panicked, but even in that situation, her mother said, "Just pay the bill," a remark that is still talked about today. Kuroyanagi read a powerful and humorous letter from her mother. When she heard her mother say, "I'm glad I'm your mother," and "Your smile helped me after my divorce," she solemnly replied, "That's the first time I've heard that. I never knew she'd thought that."
