Makoto Oda 小田実さん Citizens' strength on show

Citizens' strength on show as Oda finally rests

08/01/2007

Makoto Oda, who died Monday at the age of 75, was a writer with a strong presence. Known as a man of action, he co-founded Beheiren (citizens' league for peace in Vietnam) and actively led the antiwar movement during the 1960s. His death must have caused many people to feel that it was the passing of an era.

Philosopher and Beheiren co-founder Shunsuke Tsurumi invited Oda to take part in the movement without knowing him very well. "Like Aladdin's lamp, smoke rose from a bottle that I happened to pick up and a giant emerged," Tsurumi said, recalling his encounter with Oda. With a remarkable ability to get things done, Oda was responsible for the movement's growing influence.

What drove him was his experience of the firebombing of Osaka during World War II. He ran for his life amid falling bombs. He recalled feeling very shaken when he emerged from an air-raid shelter to remove the charred remains of victims.

He understood what agony was playing out under the smoke when he saw a photograph of U.S. forces bombing North Vietnam. In other words, he saw things from the perspective of the victims.

As a young man, he traveled around the world and wrote about his experiences in the 1961 best-selling book "Nandemo Miteyaro" (I'll go and see everything). There is an interesting episode in the book. The draft system became a topic of conversation at a youth hostel. When Oda said "Japan had thrown off such a barbaric system a long time ago," young people from around the world appeared enthralled. Such an experience led him to develop deep emotional attachment to Article 9 of the Constitution.

Although he was confined to bed with terminal cancer, Oda deplored Japan's current state of affairs saying the atmosphere is like that of prewar Japan. According to his family, it had become increasingly hard for him to speak in the last month. Still, he repeatedly said, "When politics is really bad, citizens take action."

As a citizen activist, Oda devoted his life to trusting "citizens." Coincidentally, he died the night citizens made a harsh judgment against the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 31(IHT/Asahi: August 1,2007)

小田實 (1932-2007)

作家の小田実さんが死去　国際的な反戦運動に尽力

2007年07月30日03時52分

　反戦、反核など国際的な市民運動に取り組んだ作家で、「ベトナムに平和を！市民連合（ベ平連）」元代表の小田実（おだ・まこと）さんが３０日午前２時５分、胃がんのため東京都内の病院で死去した。７５歳だった。自宅は公表していない。

小田実さん

　１９３２年大阪市生まれ。４５年の敗戦前日の８月１４日に大阪大空襲を体験、そこで目の当たりにして後に「難死」と呼んだ「無意味な死」への怒りが言論活動や市民運動の源泉となった。

　東京大文学部卒業後の５８年、フルブライト留学生として米国ハーバード大学へ。このときの体験とそれに続く欧州・アジア巡りをつづった１日１ドルの貧乏 旅行記「何でも見てやろう」（我將目睹這一切 1961年）がベストセラーに。飾り気のない文体と世界の人々と同じ高さの目線で向き合う姿勢が共感を呼んだ。

　６５年、ベトナム戦争に反対して哲学者の鶴見俊輔さん、作家の開高健さんらとベ平連を結成。米ワシントン・ポスト紙に日本語で「殺すな」と大書した反戦広告を掲載するなど、運動の支柱となった。

　ベ平連解散後も、執筆の傍ら政治問題と正面から向き合い、市民の側から発言を続けた。７６年には北朝鮮を訪問して当時の金日成主席と会見。８７年の東京都知事選では当時の社会党から立候補を打診され、断った。

　９５年の阪神大震災は自宅で被災。公的支援の貧弱さを身をもって体験、被災者支援法成立に尽力した。０４年６月、作家大江健三郎さんや評論家加藤周一さんらと、憲法を守る「九条の会」の呼びかけ人となった。

　小説では庶民の生活に根ざした素材と言葉で、心のひだへ分け入った。「ＨＩＲＯＳＨＩＭＡ」で８８年、第三世界最高の文学賞とされるロータス賞を受賞。９７年に川端康成文学賞を受けた「『アボジ』を踏む」は演劇にもなった。

　０７年春に末期がんがわかり、親しい知人に手紙で病状を明らかにしていた。著書「中流の復興」では、武器を売らぬ平和経済で繁栄したことが日本の誇りであり、その基盤となった中流層の復権を訴えた。

Oda, writer and peace activist, dies at 75

07/30/2007

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Makoto Oda, an award-winning writer whose disgust with war led to the formation of Beheiren (citizens' league for peace in Vietnam), died of stomach cancer Monday at a Tokyo hospital, his family said.

He was 75.

Oda was diagnosed with terminal cancer in spring this year. He died at 2:05 a.m.

Born in Osaka in 1932, Oda survived the great Osaka air raid on Aug. 14, 1945, a day before Japan's surrender.

Oda's anger at what he called "meaningless deaths" is believed to have been his source of energy to continue his writing and anti-war activities.

After graduating from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Letters, Oda studied at Harvard University on a Fulbright scholarship in 1958.

He later traveled through Europe and Asia, restricting himself to spend only 1 dollar a day.

Oda wrote about his experiences in the 1961 best-seller "Nandemo Miteyaro" (I'll go and see everything).

In 1965, Oda established Beheiren jointly with other anti-war activists, including philosopher and critic Shunsuke Tsurumi and writer Takeshi Kaiko, to protest the Vietnam War.

While continuing to write after Beheiren was disbanded, Oda spoke up on political issues from the standpoint of a citizen.

In 1976, he visited North Korea to meet with then leader Kim Il Sung.

The former Japan Socialist Party in 1987 asked Oda to run in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, but he declined.

Oda was living in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, when the Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated the Kobe area on Jan. 17, 1995, killing more than 6,000 people.

Having seen firsthand the slow government response in a time of disaster, Oda pressed for the passage of the disaster-relief law intended to help victims rebuild their lives.

Oda was also an inaugural member of the Article 9 Association, a group set up in June 2004 to protect war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan's Constitution. Other members include Nobel Prize laureate Kenzaburo Oe and critic Shuichi Kato.

In 1988, Oda won the Lotus Prize of the Afro-Asian Writers' Association, a literary award hailed as the best prize for writers in Asia and Africa, for his book "Hiroshima."(IHT/Asahi: July 30,2007)