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Ayako Sono (曽野 綾子, Sono Ayako, born September 17, 1931) is a Japanese writer.
Sono is considered to be a
conservative. She was considered to be an advisor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She has drawn controversy for advocating for a system similar to South Africa's apartheid for Japan's immigrants.[1][2][3] She has also advocated for women to quit their jobs after becoming pregnant.[4]
Sono was born in 1931.[5] She went to the Catholic
Sacred Heart School in Tokyo after elementary school.[5]
During
World War II, she evacuated to
Kanazawa. After writing for the
fanzinesLa Mancha and Shin-Shicho (新思潮: "New Thought"),[6] she was recommended by
Masao Yamakawa, an established critic at the time, to
Mita Bungaku, for which she wrote Enrai No Kyaku Tachi (遠来の客たち: "Visitors from Afar"), one of the shortlisted stories for the
Akutagawa Prize in 1954.[5] In 1953, she married
Shumon Miura, one of the members of Shin-Shicho.[5]
The naming of The Bas Bleu Era (才女時代: Saijo-Jidai) by the writer and critic
Yoshimi Usui described the prosperous activities of female writers including Sono and Sawako Ariyoshi—one of her contemporaries who had published many reputable books that are still being read.
She was awarded the
Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1979.[7] She founded an
NGO named “Kaigai-senkyosha-katsudo-enjo-koenkai” (JOMAS: Japan Overseas Missionaries Assistance Society) to help Japanese missionaries devoting their lifetime in foreign countries.[8]
In 2000, she welcomed
Alberto Fujimori, ex-President of Peru from 1990 to 2000, to stay at her house after his exile.
She has been selected as a
Person of Cultural Merits in 2003, following her husband's honor in 1999.
After the death of
Ryoichi Sasakawa, one of the biggest
rightist leaders, Sono took over his position as the head of the
Nippon Foundation, whose funds come from 3 percent of the profits of the
boat races all over Japan. As the chairperson, she had focused on
welfare and assistance of undeveloped countries, until 30 June 2005, when her term of office finally expired after nine and a half years. The position of the foundation chairman was taken over by
Yohei Sasakawa.
She was nominated as director of the Japan Post Holding Co.'s board by
Shizuka Kamei, minister in charge of postal reform, in October 2009.
She was appointed to one of 15 members of an education reform panel in January 2013, a position from which she resigned in October of that year.[1][9]
Sono drew criticism for a column she wrote in the Japanese
far-rightSankei Shimbun newspaper in February 2015, in which she held South Africa's
apartheid as an example of how Japan should handle immigration.[1][2][3] She stated that while she was "supportive" of the "need to bring in immigrants to ease the shortage of workers to care for Japan's ballooning elderly population", she also advocated non-Asian immigrants such as
whites and
blacks to Japan be separated from the general population and made to live in special zones amongst themselves.[10][11]
Works
Novels
Her major novels include
Tamayura (たまゆら: Transience), which portrays the nihilistic daily life of man and woman
Satōgashi ga Kowareru Toki (砂糖菓子が壊れるとき: When a Sweetmeat Breaks), modeled on
Marilyn Monroe and made into a film starring Ayako Wakao[12]
Mumeihi (無名碑: A Nameless Monument), featuring the construction sites of the Tagokura Dam and the
Asian Highway
Kizu-tsuita-ashi (傷ついた葦: Bruised Reed), which describes in a most dry style a life of a Catholic father
Kyokō-no-ie (虚構の家: The House of Fiction), a bestseller depicting
domestic violence
Tarō-Monogatari (太郎物語: Taro Story), which features her son Taro as the protagonist
Kami-No-Yogoreta-Te (神の汚れた手: The Soiled Hands of the god, translated into English as The Watcher from the Shore (
ISBN0-87011-938-9)), on the theme abortion and dignity of life problems, with a gynecologist as the protagonist
Tenjō-no-ao (天上の青: Heavenly Blue, translated into English as No Reason for Murder (
ISBN4-925080-63-6), a crime novel based on real serial murder and rape cases by a man named
Kiyoshi Ōkubo, which tries to describe the extremity of love
Kyō-ō-Herode (狂王ヘロデ: Herod the Mad), which portrays the half life of
Herod the Great, who is notorious for the
Massacre of the Innocents, through the eye of a mute lute player called "Ana" (hole).
Aika (哀歌: Lamentations), a record of the dramatic experience of a nun Haruna, who encountered the
Rwanda Genocide.
Kiseki (奇蹟: Miracles, translated into English as Miracles: A Novel (
ISBN1-93738-588-4)), a work of travel fiction set in Poland and Italy in pursuit of the miracles ascribed to
St. Maximilian Kolbe
Short stories
Nagai-kurai-fuyu (長い暗い冬: Long, Dark Winter), which is known as a masterpiece and anthologized often
Rakuyō-no-koe (落葉の声: The Voice of Falling Leaves), which describes the end of Father
Maximilian Kolbe
Tadami-gawa (只見川: The River Tadami), which sings of a love torn apart by
World War II
Essays
The two million bestseller Dare-no-tame-ni-aisuruka? (誰のために愛するか: For Whom Do You Love?)
Kairō-roku (戒老録: A note of Admonition to the Old) on the way how we behave in old age
II-hito-o-yameruto-raku-ni-naru (「いい人」をやめると楽になる: Stop Being ”Nice”, and You'll Be Liberated), a collection of
epigrams