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Always listen to your heart / Deaf woman writes song lyrics that say you shouldn't try too hard : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)
A deaf Morioka woman has channeled her poetic talents and personal experiences into the lyrics of a song she wrote to inspire handicapped people and their parents.
Yukiko Hoshi won a competition last year to pen the words for which Kiyomi, a mandolin player and singer from Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, composed the melody.
"Kokoro no Kaze" (Wind of the Heart) went on sale nationwide on Sept. 3. It conveys the message: "There's no need to overstretch, just be yourself."
"I hope it'll help many people be courageous, regardless of whether they're handicapped or not," said the 41-year-old Iwate prefectural government employee.
Hoshi lost her hearing at the age of 1 from a disease that was never identified. She can only hear faint sounds, even if she uses a hearing aid.
With her parents' support, she undertook speech therapy and learned to lip-read, enabling her to take classes alongside students with normal hearing through to the end of high school.
She worked at several jobs after graduation, including one at a nursery school, before becoming a public servant in 1993.
When she was working at Morioka Health Center, she was responsible for allocating medical benefits for premature babies requiring extended hospital treatment.
Some premature babies develop handicaps because they are born with underdeveloped bodily functions.
Their mothers are often anxious about their children's futures and frequently isolate them from other people.
When speaking with the mothers, Hoshi would start off by telling them about her deafness.
This fact always surprised the mothers, and they soon began to open up to her about their own worries.
One thing Hoshi never told them to do was to try harder.
This was because Hoshi felt that people were putting distance between themselves and her when they said the same thing.
"I'm doing my best now," Hoshi said of her feelings at the time. "What more can I do?"
Instead, she suggested to the mothers, "Let's work on this together."
In November last year, she saw on the Internet a prefectural government-run center that was trying to get disabled people to participate more in society was looking for people to write the lyrics of a song aimed at encouraging welfare activities.
Hoshi, who had composed many poems over the years, decided to enter.
While sitting at her computer, the faces of mothers holding their premature babies came to mind and the lyrics of "Kokoro no Kaze" flooded out.
The lyrics were selected from among about 30 works submitted to the contest, and Kiyomi wrote a smooth, relaxing melody to the words.
Of the lyrics, she feels the most important is "Sonna gambaranukute ii yo" (You don't have to try so hard). And believing that people should not lose sight of themselves despite advice from those close to them, she included the words, "Anata wa zutto sonomama de ii yo" (You can always be yourself.)
"Disabilities are nothing to be ashamed of," Hoshi says.
"I hope this song helps people believe in themselves," she added.
A deaf Morioka woman has channeled her poetic talents and personal experiences into the lyrics of a song she wrote to inspire handicapped people and their parents.
Yukiko Hoshi won a competition last year to pen the words for which Kiyomi, a mandolin player and singer from Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, composed the melody.
"Kokoro no Kaze" (Wind of the Heart) went on sale nationwide on Sept. 3. It conveys the message: "There's no need to overstretch, just be yourself."
"I hope it'll help many people be courageous, regardless of whether they're handicapped or not," said the 41-year-old Iwate prefectural government employee.
Hoshi lost her hearing at the age of 1 from a disease that was never identified. She can only hear faint sounds, even if she uses a hearing aid.
With her parents' support, she undertook speech therapy and learned to lip-read, enabling her to take classes alongside students with normal hearing through to the end of high school.
She worked at several jobs after graduation, including one at a nursery school, before becoming a public servant in 1993.
When she was working at Morioka Health Center, she was responsible for allocating medical benefits for premature babies requiring extended hospital treatment.
Some premature babies develop handicaps because they are born with underdeveloped bodily functions.
Their mothers are often anxious about their children's futures and frequently isolate them from other people.
When speaking with the mothers, Hoshi would start off by telling them about her deafness.
This fact always surprised the mothers, and they soon began to open up to her about their own worries.
One thing Hoshi never told them to do was to try harder.
This was because Hoshi felt that people were putting distance between themselves and her when they said the same thing.
"I'm doing my best now," Hoshi said of her feelings at the time. "What more can I do?"
Instead, she suggested to the mothers, "Let's work on this together."
In November last year, she saw on the Internet a prefectural government-run center that was trying to get disabled people to participate more in society was looking for people to write the lyrics of a song aimed at encouraging welfare activities.
Hoshi, who had composed many poems over the years, decided to enter.
While sitting at her computer, the faces of mothers holding their premature babies came to mind and the lyrics of "Kokoro no Kaze" flooded out.
The lyrics were selected from among about 30 works submitted to the contest, and Kiyomi wrote a smooth, relaxing melody to the words.
Of the lyrics, she feels the most important is "Sonna gambaranukute ii yo" (You don't have to try so hard). And believing that people should not lose sight of themselves despite advice from those close to them, she included the words, "Anata wa zutto sonomama de ii yo" (You can always be yourself.)
"Disabilities are nothing to be ashamed of," Hoshi says.
"I hope this song helps people believe in themselves," she added.