Children die silently

I shall never forget the words of the headman of a nameless village in Tanzania. "Miss Kuroyanagi," he said, "There is one thing I hope you will remember when you go back to Japan: Men and women usually die groaning and complaining of pain, but children just die silently, beneath the banana leaves, trusting us adults."

In 1984, I was appointed goodwill ambassador for UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). In the 13 years since then, I have visited many countries and met lots of children. In the early 1980s, 14 million children under the age of five died each year, weakened by starvation and malnutrition as a result of wars and poverty, and, because of a lack of immunization, exposed to diseases that need not have killed them.

Had I not been given this work, I might never have known about these children. Nor would I have known what a strong will to live children have, whatever the circumstances, because of their faith in grown-ups-although I must have been like that myself, as a child. My heart aches when I think of the 180 million children who have died in appalling conditions in the 13 years since I was appointed UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

When I graduated from the voice department of Toyo Music School (now the Tokyo College of Music), I intended to become an opera singer, but I had such a hard time memorizing long passages that I gave it up. I have no trouble now learning parts in plays hundreds of lines long, so I still wonder why I had such trouble with operatic arias.

I was sure I would be getting married, so to learn how to read stories to my children in an entertaining way, I auditioned for NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.). Since television was just becoming popular, however, the people at NHK suggested that I train for that, telling me that if I did well, I could be their first mT\ actress. By chance I was successful, but I still did not intend to make acting my career. I only wanted to learn acting for the sake of my future children. But life is strange. Here I am, with no children of my own, but doing my best to help...