After a life for others, Japanese refugee advocate dies at 96

Michiko Inukai was also a Catholic author and the granddaughter of an assassinated prime minister

Jul 27, 2017

TOKYO: Michiko Inukai, a nationally-known Catholic author who supported refugees in Japan and abroad, died on July 24 due to her advanced age. She was 96.

Michiko was a granddaughter of Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai, whose assassination by young naval officers in 1932 marked the end of effective civilian control of the Japanese government until after World War II.

Michiko and her family were baptized Catholics during the war after Jesuit missionaries befriended them when many people shunned them in fear of retribution by the military authorities.

Following the war, she studied philosophy in the United States and studied scripture and worked as a correspondent in Paris.

Upon her return to Japan in 1958, she published her first book, a reflection on her experiences abroad. This was followed by several books on the Bible and Christianity as well as general-interest works, one of which became a television series.

After meeting a Vietnamese refugee in Paris in 1979, Michiko visited refugee camps in Thailand. This prompted her to begin work on behalf of refugees in Asia and Africa.

She later started the Michiko Inukai Foundation to cooperate with the Jesuit Refugee Service in providing educational assistance to refugee children around the world. She also supported forestation projects in Pakistan.

Michiko passed away in the Japanese city of Hadano, near Tokyo.--Ucanews.Com

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