is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 Roman-Catholic author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

. She is the founder of the Michiko Inukai Foundation, which provides financial aid for refugees seeking education.

Biography

Michiko Inukai was born in Yotsuya, Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, the eldest daughter of a politician Takeru Inukai and his wife Nakako. Her grandfathers were Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Japan

The is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office...

 Tsuyoshi Inukai and Baron

Kazoku

The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...

 Shokichi Nagayo. She has a brother Yasuhiko Inukai, a journalist who later became president of Kyodo News

Kyodo News

is a nonprofit cooperative news agency based in Minato, Tokyo. It was established in November 1945 and it distributes news to almost all newspapers, and radio and television networks in Japan. The newspapers using its news have about 50 million subscribers. K. K. Kyodo News is Kyodo News' business...

, and a half sister Kazu Ando, an essayist. Sadako Ogata

Sadako Ogata

, is a Japanese academic, diplomat, author, administrator and professor emeritus at Sophia University.-Early life:Sadako Nakamura was born in 1927...

, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, is Michiko's first cousin once removed.

Having graduated from Gakushuin Girls' School and Tsuda College

Tsuda College

is a private women's college in Kodaira, Tokyo. The college was founded in 1900 by Tsuda Umeko as Joshi Eigaku Juku. The name was later changed to Tsuda Eigaku Juku and then Tsuda Juku Senmon Gakko and finally Tsuda Juku Daigaku in 1948....

, Michiko Inukai went to study philosophy in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 in 1948. In 1959, she was sent to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 as a correspondent for Chuokoronsha.

Her first book Ojosan Horoki was published in 1958, and she has since written essays about Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 and Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. Her bestseller Hanabana to Hoshiboshi to was featured in a TV drama in 1978.

Inukai started charity in 1979. In 1983, she founded the Michiko Inukai Foundation to provide aid for refugees and internally displaced people in collaboration with the Jesuit Refugee Service

Jesuit Refugee Service

The Jesuit Refugee Service is an international Catholic organization that aids refugees, forcibly displaced peoples, and asylum seekers. JRS operates at national and regional levels. Founded in November, 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on March 19, 2000 in...

. The foundation also manages a computer school in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

.

Works

• Ojosan Horoki, 1958
• Onna ga Soto ni Deru Toki, 1964
• Watashi no Amerika (My America), 1966
• Hanabana to Hoshiboshi to, 1970
• Shin'yaku Seisho Monogatari (New Testament Stories), 1976
• Kyuyaku Seisho Monogatari (Old Testament Stories), 1977
• Kawaku Daichi - Ningen no Daichi, 1989
• Aru Rekishi no Musume, 1995
• Seisho o Tabisuru, 1996
• Josei e no Junana no Tegami (Seventeen Letters for Women), 1998
• Mirai kara no Kako, 2001
• Kokoro no Zahyojiku, 2006

External links

• Michiko Inukai Foundation