Sayaka Kato, of idol group Akagidan, has been talking about being an idol, although she is almost completely blind. The 38-year-old was a founder member of the group back in 2011, but by the age of 30, she began experiencing severe headaches and blurred vision. This led to emergency surgery to remove a malignant tumor, 8 centimeters in diameter, which was compressing her optic nerve, but her sight never recovered. The self-described "blind idol", encouraged by the other members, returned to activities 3 months after the surgery. She says her body remembers the old songs, but new songs are a challenge. She has to listen to the lyrics repeatedly to memorize them, and receives hands-on instruction for the choreography. She hopes that her presence on stage will encourage other visually impaired people to not give up, and inspire them to take a step forward towards what they want to do. topics.smt.docomo.ne.jp/arti… NOTE: If you feel inspired by her story you can follow her at xitter.cf/saya_akagidan