Taro Arakawa was born in Tokyo under the name Yasuo Sato on November 4, 1956. He began his voice acting career in 1977, with the role of Dan Gorobee in Mechander Robo; he was also Cha Manju and Nikuman-Mecha in the original Yatterman anime series. During the 1990s, Arakawa became the second voice of Norisuke Namino in Sazae-san, after Ichiro Murakoshi stepped down from the role due to health.

The 1980s saw Arakawa in the following anime productions: Akira (as Eiichi Watanabe), Aoi Blink, the Blue Sonnet OAV (as Kataoka), the Legend of the Galactic Heroes OAV (as Marino), Little Nemo - Adventures in Slumberland (as Policeman), and Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos.

In the 1990s, he was cast in such roles as: the Abashiri Family OAV (as Chiashi), the Agent Aika OAV (as Colonel), Ai to Yuki no Pig Girl Tonde Burin (as Makoto Arashiyama), the Bubblegum Crash OAV (as Colonel Lando), the Crayon Shin-Chan: Action Kamen vs Haigure Mao film (as Butcher), the Garzey's Wing OAV (as Euforio), the Golgo 13: Queen Bee OAV (as Antonio), Heisei Inu Monogatari Bow (as Sub), Heisei Tensai Bakabon, Kaiketsu Zorro, the Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus film (as Mario), the Lupin III: From Russia With Love special, the Mars OAV, Master Keaton (as Tomasz), Matchless Raijin-Oh (as Hakkaru), the Minky Momo in Yume ni Kakeru Hashi OAV (as Pilot), Nintama Rantaro (as Matsuchiyo-sensei), Omakase Scrappers (as Nohara-sensei and Springa), Puppet Master Sakon (as Satoru Yagisawa), Rainbow Samurai (as Shoujirou Kotou and Manjirou John), Silent Mobius (as Normal Ghost), Tama and Friends (as Bull), YAT Anshin! Uchu Ryokou (as Roshal), Yu Yu Hakusho (as Keiko's Father, M2, Minoru Kamiya/Doctor, Musashi, and Ryo), and Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie (as Shobu).

In the 2000s, Arakawa appeared in such productions as: Case Closed (as Yukio Torimitsu), Noir (as Galle), and Requiem from the Darkness (as Juunai Kaburagi). He can also be heard in such anime as Dirty Pair, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, Doraemon, Wedding Peach, and Speed Racer.

In addition to anime voice acting, Arakawa also had a career for Japanese dubs of overseas work. One of these roles was providing the voice of Casey Jones in the Japanese dub of the first live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film.

Sadly, Arakawa passed away on November 15, 2012 at the age of 56 due to multiple organ failure. He is survived by his wife, Atsuko Sato.