Tell Us About Your Life is a weekly series that features prominent leaders in various fields as they return to their elementary schools to give special lectures on their profession and life. The teacher in this episode is Satoshi Fukushima, the first deaf-blind person in Japan to pass a university entrance exam. Losing his eyesight at the age of 9 and his hearing at 18, Fukushima has learned overcoming adversity more than most people. He holds a position of associate professor at the University of Tokyo, where he carries out research on creating barrier-free environments for the disabled. Fukushima gets the children to consider what it feels like to be in a world without sound or light. With emphasis on the importance of communication, Fukushima’s message about the preciousness of life is an object lesson on how we can and must discover our own "light in the darkness".
  The Grand Prix Japan Prize winner navigates several challenges with great skill. This program should quickly engage the difficult to reach teenage audience, keep their attention and touch their emotions. Its treatment of a particularly sensitive topic – disability – neither evokes pity nor portrays its subject as a “superman”.
  When the students first meet the blind and deaf Satoshi Fukushima, the camera captures their anxious faces. As the young people reveal growing insights into life with a disability, the camera shifts to Prof. Fukushima, exposing his appreciation that they truly understand his words.
  The program makes an important contribution to a central aspect of human life – communication – improving the ways in which we interact and understand each other.
  From five very worthy category winners, the jury chose “A Light in the Darkness” for the Grand Prix for its ability to achieve long-lasting transformation in both thought and action, for its young target audience and beyond.
  My friend’s son entered a university where Prof. Fukushima gave a greeting speech at the entrance ceremony. Then, my friend asked me to produce a program with Professor Fukushima as “He is a great person!” His speech was posted on Tokyo University’s website. As I went through his speaking of his dreams, I could not help crying. He is actually a man with no sight and no hearing!
  When I first met Prof. Fukushima for the coverage of Tell Us about Your Life, I asked him what he would like to teach children the most. He answered, “All I want to tell them is just to live”. He continued, “I have never thought of committing suicide even when I was at the bottom of despair. I always turned things around. But, I wonder why I could do that. I would like to search a reason with children why this was possible”.
  Japan is now said to be “Empire of Suicide” due to its high suicidal rate. I believed that just to introduce him has tremendous educational effects. After producing this program, reflecting upon my days with Prof. Fukushima and children, I realized that human beings are really a great entity with high potentials. Thank you very much for the Grand Prix Japan Prize.

Masayuki Gen
Director, Tokyo Video Center

  Tell Us about Your Life is one episode of the long running series Extracurricular Lesson for more than 10 years. We are honored very much to receive the prize. I would like to thank all involving this TV series for a long time. We will continue making efforts to produce high quality educational contents to join the JAPAN PRIZE again.

Shinichi Yoshizono
Programming Controller, Programming Department, NHK

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