Kodomo Tencho, Japan’s Cutest “Talent”

Japan’s entertainment world is a very unique place, and it’s interesting to observe it with my gaijin’s eyes. Any given variety show will feature a panel of various interesting entertainers known as “talents” — a comedy duo here, an actress there, perhaps a retired Hawaiian sumo wrestler or an American known for speaking a rare dialect of Japanese to spice things up a bit. The point is to entertain viewers with the mix of personalities and always offer something the viewer will want to watch. Currently one face you see a lot of is a Seishiro Kato, the nine-year-old child star who distinguished himself in last year’s NHK Taiga Drama. He’s universally known by the name Kodomo Tencho (“child store manager”) due to a series of Toyota TV commercials in which he appears as the manager of a car dealership explaining about the tax breaks you get from buying a fuel-efficient car.

You can see “Kodomo Tencho” (child store manager) on Toyota commercials every day.