Kodansha USA to Release Long-Awaited Sequel to Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's Bestselling Memoir

(October 15, 2025) Japanese pop-culture icon Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, whose bestselling autobiography Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, first published in 1981, did as much as any book to set the tone for Japan's postwar culture, has now published her long-awaited sequel to that memoir. The original installment, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, which chronicled the writer's Tokyo childhood and eclectic school life in the run-up to World War II, quickly soared past all previous publishing records in Japan; by the end of 1982, it had become the bestselling book in the country's history, a distinction it maintains with over 8 million domestic sales to date. A true international phenomenon, it has gone on to sell an astounding, Guinness World Record-breaking 26 million copies worldwide in dozens of languages. Now, over four decades later, Kodansha USA will release the first-ever English translation of Kuroyanagi's recently published and eagerly anticipated follow-up, Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel, translated by Yuki Tejima.

“I'm excited to share that my memoir, Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel, will soon be released in English,” said author and cultural icon, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. “It has been over forty years in the making and I put my whole heart and soul into it. I hope you all enjoy it.”

Kuroyanagi ended her original, seminal memoir with a heartbreaking scene in which her beloved elementary school, Tomoe Gakuen, burned down amidst the air raids of World War II. Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel begins with her family's frantic effort to escape Tokyo and the worst horrors of the war. In it, Kuroyanagi details how little Totto persevered through starvation and suffering to become a trailblazing actress, a champion for the deaf and children the world over, and one of the most successful entertainers in Japanese history. Now in her nineties, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi has said of her motivation for penning The Sequel, “I wanted to write about the war while I still remember it.”

Already an established literary classic, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window reached a new generation in 2023 with the release of an anime film adaptation of the story. The critically lauded picture was produced and animated by Shinei Animation, distributed by TOHO, and directed by Shinnosuke Yakuwa, Yuta Kanbe, and Kunio Katō, with Liliana Ōno in the leading role as Totto-chan. Kodansha USA has arranged a screening of the acclaimed film at the Japan Society in New York on November 25, 2025.

To commemorate this long-awaited release, Kodansha USA will be sponsoring the following book-launch events in New York City:

Book talk with Translator Yuki Tejima at the New York Public Library 53rd Street Branch                                 Date: Saturday, November 22, 2025                                                                                                                  Time: 11:30am - 12:30pm ET                                                                                                                       Location: 18 West 53rd Street, New York                                                                                                  Admission: Free

More info: https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2025/11/22/person-author-talk-yuki-nejima-totto-chan-little-girl-window

Book signing with Translator Yuki Tejima at Kinokuniya Bookstore                                                                    Date: Monday, November 24, 2025                                                                                                                   Time: 6:00-8:00pm ET                                                                                                                                  Location: 1073 Avenue of the Americas, New York                                                                                            Admission: Free                                                                                                                                                  More details coming soon.

Screening of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window feature anime and panel discussion at the Japan Society  Featuring: Yuki Tejima, translator; Alexandra McCullough-Garcia, editor; Nathan Shockey, Associate          Professor of Japanese at Bard College                                                                                                             Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2025                                                                                                                   Time: Doors 6:00 pm, Screening 7:00 pm ET                                                                                               Location: 333 E 47th Street, New York                                                                                                      Admission: $16 general admission; $12 students/seniors/persons with disabilities; $8 members                        More Info: https://japansociety.org/film/

“Told with the same disarming charm as the original memoir, the anime connected Totto-chan's story with a new audience,” said Kodansha USA Publishing President & CEO Alvin Lu. “Now the English-language publication of Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel picks up where that story left off and allows readers to discover the full life story of one of the most influential and inspiring women in Japanese history.”

Today, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi remains one of Japan's most popular and celebrated media personalities. Her enduring presence is best represented by the success of her long-running television show, Tetsuko's Room (Tetsuko no Heya), which began airing almost fifty years ago in 1976. In 2011, the program earned a Guinness World Record for the highest number of talk show broadcasts by the same host, a record which it continues to break with every new episode.

An inspirational philanthropist, Kuroyanagi was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF—the first from Asia—in 1984 and has visited 40 countries in that capacity. She is also on the board of the World Wide Fund for Nature Japan and provides professional training to deaf actors through The Totto Foundation, which is financed with her book royalties. She has written over twenty books, including co-authored works.

Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel was originally published in Japan on October 3, 2023 and will be published by Kodansha USA Publishing on November 18, 2025. Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window remains in print with Kodansha USA Publishing.

For more information, follow Kodansha USA on social media: Facebook; Instagram; TikTok; Tumblr; X; and YouTube.

About Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

Born in Tokyo, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is an actor, television host, and essayist. She graduated from the Toyo Conservatory of Music (currently Tokyo College of Music) vocal arts department and became the first television actress for national broadcaster NHK. Japan's first talk show, Tetsuko's Room (which began airing in February 1976 on TV Asahi) has run for over 12,000 episodes and continues to break the world record for the longest-running single-host television program. Her bestselling 1981 memoir Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (Kodansha) has sold over eight million copies in Japan and twenty-five million copies around the world.

Devoted to welfare and conservation, Kuroyanagi was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1984, in which capacity she has visited forty countries in support of children suffering from starvation, conflict, and disease. She also serves on the board of the Worldwide Fund for Nature Japan. The Totto Foundation—financed with her book royalties—opperates a theater of deaf actors, with whom Kuroyanagi has often appeared. Kuroyanagi has brought America's National Theater of the Deaf to Japan. She is the author of over twenty books, including co-authored works.

Kuroyanagi has won numerous awards for her work in radio and television and received some of Japan's highest honors, including membership in the prestigious Japan Art Academy, official recognition from the Japanese government as a Person of Cultural Merit, and the Order of the Sacred Treasure for long-term contribution to public service.

About Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC

A subsidiary of Kodansha, Japan's largest publisher, Kodansha USA Publishing is the English-language publisher of some of the world's most recognizable manga properties, including Katsuhiro Ōtomo's AKIRA and Naoko Takeuchi's Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, along with a robust catalog of English-language Japanese novels, cookbooks, craft guides, historical and cultural literature, and more. Today, thanks to recent fan-favorite and critically acclaimed hits like Attack on Titan, Battle Angel Alita, Witch Hat Atelier, and the popular Monogatari Novels, Kodansha USA Publishing is one of the best-selling manga publishers in the United States. Kodansha USA Publishing's print offerings are distributed by Penguin Random House Publisher Services, and their digital manga and select digital books are available across a number of digital comics, manga, and book vendors. For more information visit Kodansha.us