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Tohoku Zunko

fictional character

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ11526103 ↗
Source-derived summary

Tohoku Zunko (東北ずん子, Tōhoku Zunko) is a character created for Voiceroid and was later also developed for the Vocaloid 3 engine.

Development

She was originally created to help promote the recovery of the Tōhoku region in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Zunko's release marked an improvement compared to previous Voiceroid models, notably in the user interface. The ability to adjust strength of intonation has been added, as well as the ability to insert pauses directly into the tuning screen. Users can also directly use ruby pronunciation markers in the text. It also reads text at up to 4x speed and can output 22.1 kHz sample-rate audio files.

Additional software

A fundraising campaign was in effect with the goal of creating a Vocaloid vocal for Zunko if the required funds (¥5,000,000) were met by July 20. Since then, the campaign was successful and her vocal was released in June 2014 for Vocaloid 3.

Her Voiceroid software was updated in 2015 to Voiceroid+ ex along with 5 other Voiceroid products.

Characteristics

Her character design is based on a zunda-mochi, a Tōhoku specialty, which is a traditional sweet made of green soybean paste.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Tohoku Zunko” is fictional character. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Tohoku, Zunko and fictional, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2011, 2014, 2015—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2012-09-28. For this dossier, Tohoku, Zunko and fictional is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “fictional character” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11526103. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2014 and 2015.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Tohoku Zunko”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Tohoku Zunko primary sources, Tohoku Zunko archive and Tohoku research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tohoku Zunko”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Tohoku Zunko” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.