Judit Kawaguchi

About

There are two versions of Judit’s bio here, the first is a bit official and the second is more personal:

Version 1:

Judit Kawaguchi is a Hungarian-American journalist and TV reporter living in Tokyo. She has been working in the Japanese media since 2001, mostly for Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK. Judit is fluent in Japanese and has been traveling around Japan documenting culture and society. Her love for Japan is expressed in the numerous reports and interviews she has filed for NHK World TV, JIB-TV, and Radio Japan. Her unique presentation style and simultaneous interpretation skills have won her kudos and are behind the success of over 120 TV programs such as Weekend Japanology, Out & About, Nippon Art Walk and Journeys in Japan, and on dozens of radio shows, including Weekend Square, 44 Minutes and Pop Goes Asia.
Judit Kawaguchi Report List

Judit Kawaguchi in a red dress

From 2005 until 2015 her popular column ‘Words to Live by’ appeared in The Japan Times newspaper. Chronicling the lives of people, her series profiled more than 150 inspiring individuals.

Judit Kawaguchi is a bit of an expert on Ohka, the most feared suicide unit of the Japanese during the WWII. She wrote, directed and produced a documentary on the Ohka and this 24-minute film is on permanent display at Yushukan Museum in Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo. She also wrote and produced a manga based on the experiences of Ohka pilots.

Currently Judit writes for Morinoske Co.Ltd a Tokyo-based creative future lab and innovation, technology and design consultancy. Established by Judit and Japanese futurist and Judit’s husband, Morinosuke Kawaguchi, the team at Morinoske includes Purin chan and Marron chan, two super kawaii and smart shiba inu dogs. Purin chan and Marron chan are full of creativity, kindness and love. Morinosuke and Judit adore them and feel very lucky to share their lives with such lovely creatures.

Morinoske members Purin chan and Marron chan love resting in the grass after playing ball

Judit Kawaguchi
Judit Kawaguchi
Judit Kawaguchi 2016. December w magic backpack
Judit Kawaguchi in Tokyo in December 2016 with her magic backpack: It’s packed with happiness that she shares! Come and get some!

Version 2:

Judit Kawaguchi loves art and life! She adores the shiba inu and might be one herself, so treat her well, or she may just run away! Judit has always led an unconventional life and continues to walk to her own shiba inu spirit. She was practically living alone in Budapest from age 12 in an apartment filled with paintings of her ancestors and beautiful objects from past centuries. It was a unique life style but she always kept her cool and surrounded herself with smart and talented older people who loved and protected her. She stayed innocent, yet she became wiser than her age thanks to the teachings of her great-grandma and other fantastic women and men & a few kids her own age. In Budapest she was partying and going to school, reading, going to the theater and the opera a few times a week, as back then in Hungary, that is what people did who were curious @ the world. And Judit was and still is! In Hungary she was an actress tamago (egg) and played in some cool underground shorts & theater productions staged by Hungary’s talented avant-garde artists. Suddenly she landed in Chicago, where for a while she lived in luxury and dined on the most expensive French wines and fois gras, same as back in Hungary… And no, she does not eat fois gras anymore, but growing up in Hungary, she did, pretty much every single day… Strange life… Besides fruits and vegetables, that was one of the very few food stuff she liked… she was always thin and eating was not so easy for her so her grandma supplied an endless amount of delicacies to feed her skinny little body…and took her to lovely cafes and restaurants every day as she was growing up. All that changed when Judit was 12 and her beloved grandma moved away… but thanks to the love and wisdom of her grandma, she was always healthy and strong as she had learnt how to take care of herself. Now back to Chicago and the nice home, that she escaped from as she felt that it would not have given her the experiences she wanted. Judit always wants to be free. Free and poor is always better than rich and controlled, she thinks. Since she moved out from the comfy family home, she chose the deal that meant to be alone and take care of herself all alone. She made her bed and was ready to lie in it… except she was so poor that she had no bed! She also had no money, except 32 dollars, no winter clothes and it was almost snowing in Chicago….but she kept going and surviving. She was very poor and the only food she ate was from the restaurants she waitressed in. But she was free and happy! Soon she was studying conceptual art in Chicago where she did fab art work using language and performance. In Chicago she was also a production assistant on an Emmy winning children’s TV series, waitressed everywhere!!! to make ends meet and lived in a huge rundown loft downtown way before it became trendy to do so…Since that was the city’s wholesale fruit and vegetable market, every afternoon shops put a basket of goodies out for our struggling artist. Judit loved her life even back when she was poor! She may not have had cash, but she had FUN & connections: In Chicago she was a fixture on the blues and jazz scene and even switched her major at the university to music as she was gonna be a jazz drummer! Judit regularly partied with the most famous musicians of the world and listened to their sets night after night at clubs. Music was one of the greatest pleasures in her life. Other nights she was dancing in the clubs with her best friend and carrying their mini boombox on the street blasting music. They were cute and everyone wanted to be with them! Next thing you know, Judit is married to a Japanese hunk and moving to Japan. Wow! Yes, Judit’s life so far has been pretty wild & crazy… In Japan she was a volunteer counselor for years on the streets of Tokyo, where she was picked up to be a TV reporter… And yes, the most important people in her life appeared out of the blue, usually on the street…Judit believes that the universe has a plan and it is best to trust it!

Judit Kawaguchi 2016. December
Follow Judit Kawaguchi as she explores Japan while interviewing the coolest dogs, cats & people!

judittokyo.com