Calligrapher Shoko Kanazawa and her mother Yasuko will appear on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi), which will be broadcast at 1:00 pm on March 26th. Shoko attracted attention at her first solo exhibition at the age of 20 and was called "the genius calligrapher with Down's syndrome." Twenty years have passed since then, and she will be turning 40 this year.
She started calligraphy at the age of five under the tutelage of her mother, who was a calligrapher. At the time, prejudice against people with Down's syndrome was stronger than it is today, so she thought she wanted to "give her time to herself." Even after she passed away, Yasuko felt it would be difficult for Shoko to continue her artistic activities alone as she had Down's syndrome, so she continued to search for a way for her to support herself.
Shoko started living alone at the age of 30 and opened an atelier and coffee shop last year. She works as a waitress. Her mother, Yasuko, who had previously thought that her sociable daughter would be suited to the customer service industry, said that seeing her daughter working with such vigor made her glad that she had let her do what she wanted to do.
