Talent Moto Fuyuki appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on May 12th with his wife, model Yumi Takehito. They talked about how doting they are on their two grandchildren and their activities in caring for rescue dogs.
Married for 16 years, Moto was 59 years old and it was his first marriage, while Takehito was 49 and it was his second. Moto became a father to a daughter at the same time as his marriage, and he said, "I suddenly found myself walking down the wedding aisle with my daughter."
He has two grandchildren, aged 6 and 7. His granddaughter is "not shy at all," and talks to and waves at everything. She had been in the United States due to her daughter's husband's work, but apparently she quickly became fluent in English. They visit during summer vacation and New Year's, and take pictures together. His granddaughters are delighted when he does impressions of them, and he is smitten with them, saying, "I'm so glad I got married." He says, "(My granddaughters) love this person (my wife) very much," and "(My granddaughters) get scolded by their mother, but this person never gets angry," and he describes his wife's personality by saying, "Strangely enough, dogs and children like her."
The couple volunteers to care for rescue dogs. "We take in rescue dogs that have been rescued by animal shelters, and we take them to adoption events and various other events to find them owners," they say. They take them in for about two to three weeks, or at least three days. "The rescued dogs are in terrible condition," they say. "They come to our home, and we teach them that people are their friends. It takes a week or two to teach them that."
As the dogs gradually get used to their new homes, she is overcome with both joy and sadness when they find owners. The first time, she was so sad to say goodbye that she thought, "I'm never doing this again," but when the owners send her photos and she sees how happy the dogs look, she thinks, "Ah, that was worth it. That's what keeps me going," she says thoughtfully.
They have now rehomed 17 rescue dogs to new owners. His wife, Takehito, says that through their work, she feels that "it's not so much that we choose the dogs, but rather that the dogs choose their owners."
