is a television presenter and announcer in Japan. Her nicknames are Kubojun and Junjun. Born the daughter of two

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

announcers, Junko spent four years in England during elementary school, and lived in the United States during her some of high-school years. She graduated from

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

with a degree in English and American literature. Her professional career began when she joined

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

in 1994. She was described as an "idol-announcer." Junko has one child. She took child-rearing leave, and in 2002 returned as a contract employee. The contract expired in 2004, whereupon she became a freelance announcer.

NHK career

When she was at NHK, Junko was the sports presenter on ''NHK News 11'' and ''NHK News Ohayō Nippon'' (NHK News Good Morning Japan). She emceed the music show ''Pop Jam'' and served as narrator for the ''

asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Ta ...

'' and ''Watashi no Aozora.'' She hosted ''Project X: Chōsensha-tachi'' and the quiz show ''Otakara Eizō Quiz: Mireba Nattoku.'' On the nature program ''Chikyū! Fushigi Daishizen'' she was not only the narrator, but also hosted in rotation with two other presenters. Three times (1998, 1999, and 2000) she served as leader of the Red Team on the New Year's Eve spectacular, ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

''. Junko was the assistant host of ''Yume Miru Tamago'', a series of irregularly scheduled programs. On ''Terebi Ehon,'' Junko was the narrator.

Freelance career

Junko co-anchored the

Tokyo Broadcasting System (formerly ) is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network TBS Television and radio network TBS Radio. It has a 28-affiliate television network called Japan News Network, as ...

's coverage of the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens. She then joined the team of ''Broadcaster'', broadcast nationwide on the same network late on Saturday nights. Beginning in January 2006, she has hosted ''Kubo Junko no Lion Music Saturday'' on

Nippon Cultural Broadcasting is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo which broadcasts to the Kanto area. It is one of the two flagship radio stations of National Radio Network (NRN) (the other station is ) and is a member of the Fujisankei Communications Group. History The ...

radio. Since April 2007, Junko has co-hosted the

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

show ''Uchikuru!?''. Additionally, Junko has numerous guest appearances, commercials, and drama guest-starring roles to her credit. She has also written two books: a collection of essays and a guide to New York.

References

External links

an

Junko Kubo at IMDB
''Kubo Junko no Lion Music Saturday''
1972 births Living people Japanese women television personalities Keio University alumni {{Asia-tv-bio-stub