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Ayako Sono (曽野 綾子,Sono Ayako, September 17, 1931 – February 28, 2025) was a Japanese writer.
Sono was considered to be aconservative and was also considered to be an advisor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who had had drawn controversy for advocating for a system similar to South Africa's apartheid for Japan's immigrants.[1][2][3] She had also advocated for women to quit their jobs after becoming pregnant.[4]
Sono was born in 1931.[5] She went to the CatholicSacred Heart School in Tokyo after elementary school.[5]
DuringWorld War II, she evacuated toKanazawa. After writing for thefanzinesLa Mancha andShin-Shicho (新思潮: "New Thought"),[6] she was recommended byMasao Yamakawa, an established critic at the time, toMita Bungaku, for which she wroteEnrai No Kyaku Tachi (遠来の客たち: "Visitors from Afar"), one of the shortlisted stories for theAkutagawa Prize in 1954.[5] In 1953, she marriedShumon Miura, one of the members of Shin-Shicho.[5]
The naming ofThe Bas Bleu Era (才女時代: Saijo-Jidai) by the writer and criticYoshimi 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 thePro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1979.[7] She founded anNGO 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 welcomedAlberto Fujimori, ex-President of Peru from 1990 to 2000, to stay at her house after his exile.
After the death ofRyoichi Sasakawa, one of the biggestrightist leaders, Sono took over his position as the head of theNippon Foundation, whose funds come from 3 percent of the profits of theboat races all over Japan. As the chairperson, she had focused onwelfare 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 byYohei Sasakawa.
She was nominated as director of the Japan Post Holding Co.'s board byShizuka 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 Japanesefar-rightSankei Shimbun newspaper in February 2015, in which she held South Africa'sapartheid 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 aswhites andblacks to Japan be separated from the general population and made to live in special zones amongst themselves.[10][11]
On February 28, 2025, Sono died at a hospital in Tokyo. She was 93.[12]
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 onMarilyn Monroe and made into a film starring Ayako Wakao[13]
Mumeihi (無名碑: A Nameless Monument), featuring the construction sites of the Tagokura Dam and theAsian 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 depictingdomestic 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 namedKiyoshi 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 ofHerod the Great, who is notorious for theMassacre 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 theRwanda 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 toSt. Maximilian Kolbe
