Motoko Tabata

Japan

Motoko Tabata

Japan

Motoko Tabata is a kind and gentle woman. She has known the suffering of being without, and the responsibility of having. Her depth of Buddhist practice has kept her steady between cultures and nations. Her compassion is palpable.

From her youth, working since the age of 13 to provide for her family, the good luck of following one's passion, in this case, singing, yielded a breakthrough in the music industry. Motoko worked diligently performing throughout southeast Asia, and Toshiba records released her albums. She even had her own daily broadcasting television station.

However, she simply wanted to settle down and be an ordinary woman. So, she accepted the marriage proposal of Mr. Tabata, whom she had known for many years, and they formed a happy little family. After marriage, she let go of her entertainment career and focused on her husband's business and raising their son and daughter together.

She participated in charitable activities of providing blankets and rice in the winter, and fans in the summer to orphans. Then she saw a photograph which awakened her heart to profound suffering, the photo of, "The Vulture and the Little Girl" taken by Kevin Carter. She revisited in her mind, her past experiences of suffering in her childhood, and she took a stand to devote her life to benefitting humanity.

She began a 12-year journey of accompanying street homeless individuals. She helped them find jobs and rediscover meaning in life.

She established the International Culture and Education Charity Foundation to benefit people, support the disadvantaged (e.g. effective medical services in impoverished countries), and create the future by enhancing connections with organizations in order to develop international interactive cooperative ongoing charitable activities, even including art exhibitions and religious and cultural exchanges.

Motoko Tabata shares Japanese Buddhism and the tradition of the 33 Kannon to Chinese communities, and hopes that the Japanese Seven Lucky Gods bestow great merit and blessings unto society. Her devotion to Buddhism, having visited 150 sacred sites, particularly Mount Koya in Japan, where she has practiced extensively, have earned her certification as a teacher and Abbot.

Motoko Tabata is committed to promoting vegetarianism globally, and envisions a "Vegetarian Earth Village" initiative to raise awareness of healthy eating, protecting the environment, and sustainable global development goals.

She writes, "I hope to cultivate into a compassionate lotus flower in front of the Buddha as soon as possible."