Daily Yomiuri Online, March 29, 2008,2
Plaintiffs disappointed as Oe prevails in suit
The Yomiuri Shimbun
OSAKA--Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe quietly accepted the Osaka District Court's ruling Friday rejecting a lawsuit filed against him and a publisher over descriptions of the Imperial Japanese Army's ordering of civilian mass suicide during the Battle of Okinawa.
The ruling came on the 63rd anniversary of the day civilians on Tokashikijima island in Okinawa Prefecture committed mass suicide during the Battle of Okinawa.
For people in the prefecture, the ruling also brought back bitter memories.
The aging plaintiffs--Yutaka Umezawa, a 91-year-old veteran of the Imperial Japanese Army, and Hidekazu Akamatsu, 75, younger brother of the deceased veteran Yoshitsugu Akamatsu--did not appear at a press conference following the ruling because of their disappointment.
After the ruling, Oe said at a press conference: "What I wrote in 'Okinawa Noto' [Okinawa Note], that 600 people on two islands were forced by the Japanese army to commit suicide, is a historical fact.
"It wasn't a crime of individuals, but a tragedy caused by the force of the Japanese army in a time when people were taught [to believe the emperor was a living god and the people his subjects]. I think the court understood my intentions."
He added: "During the trials, several people testified in detail about their bitter experiences. I'd like to express my respect for them from the bottom of my heart."
Shinichi Tokunaga, a lawyer for the defense, took a swipe at the ruling.
"Although the court recognized the Japanese army's involvement in ordering the suicides, it didn't say whether Umezawa and Akamatsu directly ordered the local residents to kill themselves," Tokunaga said.
Tokunaga criticized the ruling's assertion that it was reasonable to have stated that military commanders gave the orders but not specify whether the orders were given by Umezawa and Akamatsu.
"We can't accept the ruling because it's illogical," the lawyer said.
Umezawa reportedly told the lawyer that he wants to appeal to a higher court.
The lawyer quoted Akamatsu as questioning why the suit was dismissed when the court was aware that his brother had not given suicide orders.
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Residents report decision at memorial
On Tokashikijima, local residents held a memorial ceremony for people who died in the mass suicide 63 years ago and reported Oe's victory in the litigation in front of the Shiratama no To cenotaph.
Among the ceremony participants was Yoshikatsu Yoshikawa, 69, who avoided the suicide orders by fleeing with his parents and four siblings from a site where local residents were killing themselves. "I was relieved [at the verdict]," said Yoshikawa, who also serves as head of the Tokashikimura Municipal Board of Education.
"The best evidence is that the mass suicides didn't occurred on islands where no soldiers were stationed. I assume the ruling is legitimate," he said.
Shigeaki Kinjo, honorary professor of Okinawa Christian Junior College, who testified during the trial that the army had ordered the suicides, was told of the ruling in Naha.
Kinjo, who lost members of his family in the suicides, said, "As a survivor, I want to pass down the knowledge of the war's misery and the fact that the mass suicides were ordered by the military."
(Mar. 29, 2008)
