Toshio Furukawa

I have a soft spot for Toshio Furukawa because his voice has been quietly living rent-free in my head since I was a kid, and I only later clocked that it was all one guy. Think about the range here: he's the goofy, girl-chasing Ataru in Urusei Yatsura, then he flips a switch and becomes Piccolo, this brooding, gravel-throated alien you'd never want to cross. Same throat, totally different body temperature, which honestly should be illegal. What gets me is the longevity. He's a Tochigi-born guitar-playing renaissance type, but the second he steps to the mic the whole personality narrows to pure character. Decades deep and still on the front lines, he's basically a living textbook for every voice actor who came after. I just find that quietly moving.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Toshio Furukawa is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and guitarist born on July 16, 1946, in Ohira, Tochigi Prefecture. He studied at Nihon University and built a career spanning multiple decades in both live-action and voice work. He is widely recognized for his remarkably versatile vocal range, bringing to life characters as contrasting as the carefree Ataru Moroboshi in Urusei Yatsura and the gravelly Piccolo in Dragon Ball. Still active as of 2024, he remains one of the most respected figures in the Japanese voice acting industry.

Name (English)

Toshio Furukawa

Name (Japanese)

古川登志夫

Reading

ふるかわ としお

Born

July 16, 1946 (age 80)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Dog

Origin

Ohira, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Blood type

B

Weight

56 kg

Measurements

97 / 79 / 90

Agency

青二プロダクション

Occupation

Actor / Voice Actor / Guitarist

University

Nihon University

Spouse

柿沼紫乃

Works summary

Appearances

712 (1970–2024)

By year

1970: 1, 1972: 4, 1974: 2, 1975: 3, 1976: 1, 1977: 2, 1978: 2, 1979: 3, 1980: 2, 1981: 6, 1982: 6, 1983: 5, 1984: 3, 1985: 3, 1987: 3, 1988: 2, 1991: 1, 1992: 2, 1994: 1, 1996: 1, 1997: 1, 1998: 2, 1999: 1, 2001: 3, 2002: 1, 2003: 1, 2004: 2, 2005: 3, 2006: 2, 2008: 5, 2009: 1, 2010: 2, 2011: 3, 2012: 2, 2013: 1, 2014: 1, 2015: 7, 2016: 2, 2017: 2, 2018: 6, 2019: 4, 2020: 3, 2021: 4, 2022: 3, 2023: 2, 2024: 3

Debut work

復讐鬼 黄金仮面

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttp://www.topio.jp
• Xhttps://x.com/TOSHIO_FURUKAWA
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E5%B7%9D%E7%99%BB%E5%BF%97%E5%A4%AB
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q517337

Tags

• From Tochigi Prefecture
• Actor
• Voice Actor
• Guitarist

Last updated

2026-08-26

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.