Mao Kobayashi, a former newsreader, found legions of admirers after chronicling her battle online.
A former Japanese newsreader who won legions of admirers after deciding to publicly chronicle her battle with cancer has died of the disease.
Mao Kobayashi, who was named one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2016, died late on Thursday at home in Tokyo, aged 34.
Her husband, famous kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo, said in his own blog it was « the day I cried most in my life ».
Ms Kobayashi’s blog was ground-breaking in a country where people do not like to discuss personal issues.
Like many others, she had initially concealed her battle with breast cancer from public view, scared of « being associated » with illness as she continued to aspire to the ideal of « the perfect mother ».
Writing for the BBC last year, the mother-of-two admitted: « I had been blaming myself and thinking of myself as a ‘failure’ for not being able to live as I had before. I was hiding behind my pain. »
It was only after a Japanese media outlet published a story about her illness that she decided to « step into the sunlight » and discovered how much support there was for her in Japan.
