Maiko writes about a woman who has inspired many and who is very well-known in Japan, Helen Keller:

Helen Keller was born in Alabama on July 27,1880. Her family was rich, but when she was one year old, she had high fever and terrible stomachache. This made her blind and deaf and dumb. I think it was a very big difficulty for a little girl.
But, in 1887 she met a woman of fate. Her name was Anne Sullivan. She was her home teacher. Helen was badly behaved and a tomboy. But Anne never gave up. She used the finger alphabet to teach the little girl.
Helen was taught many things by Anne.
Helen Keller is my heroine. Because, if I were blind, deaf and dumb, I feel I would stop studying. I would think that living life was meaningless. However, she did not think so. She studied so hard. And she entered Radcliffe College at last. Then she was 21 years old. Indeed, she had failed the entrance examinations twice.
But she never gave up her dream. Her dream was to enter the university. Her diligence is a good example for me to follow.
And she never stopped giving lectures dealing with blind and deaf people for fourty years. These lectures moved so many people' hearts. And many social welfare works were formed in many countries where she came. I love and respect her viewpoint. Those are the reasons why Helen Keller is my heroine.