チャックより愛をこめて

by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, 黒柳 徹子

悪評高いニューヨークに一年間、忙しい仕事を思い切って全部休んで、一人で暮らしてみた筆者がその日その日の身の回りのことを日本に書き送りつづけた。そこには優しい微笑と暖かい隣人愛があった。意外な人と人との出会いもあった。ニューヨーク滞在中に見聞きしたニューヨーカーの喜怒哀楽、大都市の四季の彩り、身辺におこったいろいろな出来事を、偏見と独断を排して童心にかえり、ユーモアあふるる筆致で、イメージ豊かに描いた好エッセイ。

254 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 1979

About the author

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi (黒柳 徹子) is an internationally famous Japanese actress, a talk show host, a best-selling author of children book.

She founded the Totto Foundation, named for the eponymous and autobiographical protagonist of her book Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window. The Foundation professionally trains deaf actors, implementing Kuroyanagi's vision of bringing theater to the deaf.

In 1984, in recognition of her charitable works, Kuroyanagi was appointed to be a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, being the first person from Asia to hold this position. During the late 1980s and the 1990s, she visited many developing countries in Asia and Africa for charitable works and goodwill missions, helping children who had suffered from disasters and war as well as raising international awareness of the situations of children in poor countries. Kuroyanagi has raised more than $20 million for the UNICEF programmes that she has been involved in, through television fund-raising campaigns. She also used the royalties from her bestselling book, Totto-chan, to contribute to UNICEF.

In 1997, Kuroyanagi published the book Totto-chan's Children, which was based on her experience working for as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador from 1984 to 1996. Kuroyanagi is a director of the Japanese branch of the World Wildlife Fund.

Kuroyanagi has twice brought America's National Theater of the Deaf to Japan, acting with them in sign language.

For her involvement in media and television entertainment, Kuroyanagi won the Japanese Cultural Broadcasting Award, which is the highest television honour in Japan. Since then, she has been voted 14 times as Japan’s favourite television personality, for the show Tetsuko’s Room.[3]

In 2000, Kuroyanagi became the first recipient of the Global Leadership for Children Award, which was established by UNICEF in the 10th anniversary of the 1990 World Summit for Children. In May 2003, Kuroyanagi received Order of the Sacred Treasure in recognition of her two decades of service for the world’s children.