Toshiko Sato

Toshiko Sato (Tosh to her friends) applied her scientific skills to the Torchwood 3 team, after having worked for UNIT. Beautiful, brilliant, yet insecure, much of Tosh's private life remains a mystery.

Profile
Toshiko was born in London in 1975. Her parents moved to Osaka, Japan, in 1977, then back to the UK in 1986 (when speaking Japanese she does not have a noticeable Osakan accent, however). Her Japanese-born grandfather (born 20th January 1920) was a decoder at Bletchley Park and her parents were in the RAF. Graduating with distinction from university in 1995, Toshiko got work with a government think tank, and then in 2005 was hired by the Torchwood Institute. (TW: Greeks Bearing Gifts)

Toshiko met the Doctor in spring 2006 while examining an "alien pilot" in the mortuary at Albion Hospital. She was slightly hurt when the creature turned out to be alive. She was referred to as "Dr Sato". (DW: Aliens of London)


 * It was not specified whether she was working for Torchwood at that time. Given that this incident happened in 2006, we can only conjecture that either she worked for both UNIT and Torchwood at the time or that UNIT "borrowed" her tempoarily. Her fellow team mate on Torchwood 3, Owen Harper, had a UNIT ID card which implies that a person can have simultaneous ties to both organisations.

Despite her crush on Owen, Tosh had a lesbian affair, her first homosexual experience, (torchwood.org.uk) with "Mary", a female alien who tried to use their relationship to gain access to her technology, previously confiscated by Torchwood. In order to gain Tosh's confidence the alien allowed her the use of a pendant which granted her the temporary power of telepathy. Tosh used the device to save the lives of a woman and her child, about to be murdered in a domestic incident, but she became suspicious of the device when its use gave her insight as to how her team mates regarded her. She destroyed the pendant following the defeat of the murderous alien. (TW: Greeks Bearing Gifts)