Kazuko Watanabe (February 11, 1927 – December 30, 2016) was a Japanese

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and ...

, educationist, and writer. Her Christian name was Sister Saint John. She was a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and served as president of their Notre Dame Seishin University,

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

, from 1963 to 1990.

Life and career

She was born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan in 1927. Her father was Jōtarō Watanabe, lieutenant-general of the army and a commander of Asahikawa 7th Division. He was 52 when she was born. She was the youngest of four siblings and the second oldest sister. In 1936, when she was 9 years old, her father, general and educational commissioner at that time, was killed by young officers of a rebel group in the February 26 Incident. She was traumatized by having to watch as her father was mowed down by 43 bullets; the executioners standing one meter away. In 1945 she was baptized into the Catholic church. In 1951 she obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo. In 1956 she joined the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Hiroshima. In 1962 she received her PhD (Philosophy) from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

. In September, she was appointed professor of Notre Dame Seishin University, Okayama. In 1977 she was diagnosed with depression. In 1981 her first book was printed. Since then, she has published 17 books, co-authored one, and translated another. In 1984 she translated for

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

when the Holy Mother visited Japan. In 1990 she was appointed honorary president of Notre Dame Seishin University and the administrative director of Notre Dame Seishin School. From 1992 to 1996 she was the administrative director of the Japanese Federation of Catholic Schools. In 1996 she visited the headquarters of the Order of

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. In 2012 her book ''Bloom Where You Are Planted'' (original title in Japanese) became a bestseller and sold more than two million copies. December 30, 2016, at the age of 89, she died of pancreatic cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Kazuko 1927 births 2016 deaths Japanese Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns University of the Sacred Heart (Japan) alumni Sophia University alumni Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur 20th-century Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century Roman Catholic nuns Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Japan