is a Japanese television and radio presenter, journalist, author, and

goodwill ambassador Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a publ ...

for Germany. He is the host of the TBS radio talk show ''Kume Hiroshi Radio Nandesukedo''. From 1978 to 1985, he served as host of pop music show ''The Best Ten''. From October 1985 to March 2004, he was the anchor for

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...

's news program ''News Station''.

Biography

Kume was born on July 14, 1944, in

Urawa, Saitama was a Cities of Japan, city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. On May 1, 2001, Urawa was merged with the cities of Ōmiya, Saitama, Ōmiya and Yono, Saitama, Yono to create the city of Saitama, Saitama, Saitama. Since April 1, 2003, the area ...

, which is now part of the city of Saitama. He has three sisters, and he is the youngest child of an engineer working for

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

and

Toshiba Corporation , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure syste ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

ended, he was moved to

Shinagawa, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per km2. The total a ...

, where he was raised. He loved watching radio and TV programs in his early years. Kokontei Shinshō, a prominent rakugo storyteller, was one of the personality he admired.

Education

He studied politics and economics at

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

from 1963, graduating in 1967.

Career

TBS

After Kume graduated from Waseda University in 1967, he started his broadcasting career at TBS as an announcer at age 22. His hard work at that time led him to be suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. In April 1970, he became Friday's personality for ''Back In Music'', but five weeks later he retired from it because of illness. From May 1970, he was a correspondent for the radio program '' Rokusuke Ei Presents Saturday Wide Radio Tokyo''. In 1975,

Kinichi Hagimoto is a Japanese comedian. He is active as a stage performer, emcee, and manager of the amateur Ibaraki Golden Golds (''ibaraki goruden gōruzu'') of the Japanese Baseball Association (''nippon yakyuu renmei''). Born in the Taitō ward of Tōky� ...

, one of Japan's most notable TV personalities, recommended Kume as the host of the quiz show ''Pittashi Kan Kan'' he also starred. This program was broadcast nationwide, and it helped him to be one of Japan's famous TV personalities.

''The Best Ten''

In 1978, Kume became the first host of the pop music show ''The Best Ten'' with

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is a Japanese actress, voice actress, tarento, World Wide Fund for Nature advisor, and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. She is well known for her charitable works, and is considered one of the first Japanese celebrities to achieve international re ...

. It was a weekly live music program where top ten artists chosen by viewers' polls appeared and sang on stage, with 41.9% of highest viewership rate. Because this program became very popular, he was confident to be a freelance announcer. In June 1979, he left TBS at age 34. As a freelance announcer, he still was a host of this program until it ended in April 1985.

Career as a freelance announcer

In April 1980, he was the host for Nippon Television's talk show ''Oshare'' until March 1987. In 1982, Kume became the host for infotainment variety program ''Hiroshi Kume presents TV Scramble'' with the comedian Yasushi Yokoyama.

''News Station''

Kume was the news anchor on

's national evening news program ''News Station'' from its start on 7 October 1985 until it ended on 26 March 2004 and was replaced by ''Hōdō Station''. The show revolutionized news reporting in Japan and achieved an average of 20 million viewers each night.

Return to TBS Radio

In September 2006, he returned to his roots in radio to host a two-hour Saturday show ''Kume Hiroshi Radio Nandesukedo'' on

TBS Radio is a radio station in Tokyo, Japan, the flagship radio station of the Japan Radio Network (JRN). The company was founded by Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS, presently named Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc.) on March 21, 2000. TBS Radi ...

, which, as of August 2019, he still presents. As of June 2011, he also presents the weekly TV show ''Hiroshi Kume's Terebitte Yatsu wa?'' alongside

Akiko Yagi is a Japanese free announcer, ''tarento'', television presenter, newscaster, and actress. She is represented with Phonics. She is a former Fuji Television announcer from 1988 to 2000. She is the ambassador of Kanagawa Tourism. Current appearan ...

, broadcast on the Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) network.

Political stance

Kume says that he is against any ruling party, with his belief that the mass media should keep a distance from the ruling party. Kume has been critical of Japan's public broadcaster

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

, and he rarely appears on NHK's programs, with a few exceptions that he starred NHK's variety and talk shows by request of Kinichi Hagimoto and

Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, maki ...

. When Kume appeared NHK's live infotainment program '' Asaichi'' hosted by

Yurie Omi is a Japanese former announcer and news anchor for NHK. She left NHK in March 2021. She was famous for being the co-host of NHK's morning talk show '' Asaichi'' as well as its geological television series '' Bura Tamori''. Early years Omi was ...

on July 19, 2019, he blistered NHK severely, saying, "I think NHK should turn into a private broadcasting company. It should be an independent broadcasting organization. There shouldn't be such a broadcasting station got by the balls by the state with its power on personnel affairs and budget. Such a thing should never happen in a developed country." Omi talked back to him on behalf of NHK, saying, "You're saying NHK is got by the balls by the state, but it's an independent public broadcasting station, not state-run broadcasting. As a worker for NHK, I'll do my best for not playing up to anybody." The next day when Kume was talking on ''Kume Hiroshi Radio Nandesukedo'' about the progress of Asaichi on the day before, Omi sent an email to the radio station incognito, saying that she was ashamed to be aggressive to him, just like a chihuahua barking at a bigger Doberman.

Personal life

In 2011, it was reported that Kume had donated 200 million yen to an earthquake relief fund following the March

2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake Disaster Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature *Eleven (novel), ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David ...

Awards

* 1983—Golden Microphone Award from TBS Radio for his contribution to ''Saturday Wide Radio Tokyo'' * 1990— Galaxy Award from the Japan Council for Better Radio and Television for his contribution to ''News Station''

Works

Books

* , Seishun, 1978 * , Keibunsha, January 1984, * , Seishun Super Books, September 1997, * , Shueisha, April 1999, * , Sekaibunka, March 2001,

References

External links

*
Office Two-One agency profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kume, Hiroshi 1944 births Living people Japanese journalists Japanese television personalities Japanese radio personalities People from Saitama (city) People from Shinagawa Japanese broadcast news analysts Waseda University alumni Journalists from Tokyo