Michiko Inukai | |
|---|---|
 Michiko Inukai in Israel, 1959 | |
| Born | 20 April 1921 Yotsuya, Tokyo |
| Died | 24 July 2017 (aged 96) |
| Occupation | Author |
| Period | 1958–2006 |
| Spouse | Jorge Arantes (m. 1992–95)[citation needed] Neil Murray (m. 2001–2017)[citation needed] |
| Relatives | Sadako Ogata Yasuhiko Inukai |
Michiko Inukai (犬養 道子, Inukai Michiko, 20 April 1921 – 24 July 2017) was a Japanese Roman Catholic author and philanthropist. She was the founder of the Michiko Inukai Foundation, which provides financial aid for refugees seeking education.
Michiko Inukai was born in Yotsuya, Tokyo, the eldest daughter of a politician Takeru Inukai and his wife Nakako. Her paternal grandfather was Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai. She had a younger brother Yasuhiko Inukai, a journalist who later became president of Kyodo News,[1] and a half-sister Kazu Ando, an essayist. Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, is Michiko's first cousin once removed.
Having graduated from Gakushuin Girls' School and Tsuda College, Michiko Inukai went to study philosophy in Boston, Massachusetts in 1948. In 1959, she was sent to Europe as a correspondent for Chuokoronsha.
Her first book Ojosan Horoki was published in 1958,[1] and she has since written essays about the Bible and Christianity. 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. The foundation also manages a computer school in Romania.
