Oda Makoto (小田 実,Oda Makoto; June 2, 1932 – July 30, 2007) was a Japanesenovelist,peace activist, academic andTime Asian Hero.[1]
Oda was born inOsaka in 1932 and graduated from theUniversity of Tokyo's Faculty of Letters program, majoring in classical Greek philosophy and literature. He won aFulbright Scholarship toHarvard University in 1958.[2]
His travels through Europe and Asia on a budget of adollar a day formed the basis of his 1961 bestsellerNandemo Mite yaro ("I'll go and see everything").[2] His first bookAsatte no Shuki ("The Notebook of the Day After Tomorrow") was published in 1951. It was based on experiences duringWorld War II and theKorean War.[3] His first full-length novel, "Amerika" ("America") was published in 1962.
Oda won theLotus Prize in 1981 of theAfro-Asian Writers' Association for his bookHiroshima.[2] This led to a 1990 English translation as well as translations in French, Arabic, Italian, Korean and Russian. It was written about theatomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki not only in Japan but on theHopi Indians and Americans who lived near the testing sites.[3]
He won the Kawabata Yasunari Prize forAboji o Fumu ("Stomping Father"), published in 1998.Oda's novelThe Breaking Jewel was published in English in 2003. It was about Japanese forces on aSouth Pacific island facing an American invasion at the end of World War II.[3]
In 1965, he co-foundedBeheiren (Citizens' League for Peace inVietnam) with philosopherShunsuke Tsurumi and writerTakeshi Kaiko to protest against theVietnam War. He was an inaugural member of theArticle 9 AssociationArchived 2013-05-28 at theWayback Machine set up to protectArticle 9 of the Constitution of Japan which renounces Japan's right to wage war.[2] Oda was a prolific writer on political topics starting withHeiwa o tsukuru genri ("The Principles of Peace") in 1966.[3]
Oda was also instrumental in the formation of Japanese war memory in the late '60s and early '70s. He was the first of his generation of peace activists to begin to question the then-dominant narrative of Japan as a victim of war aggression, rather than as victimizer, during the Second World War.[4]
Oda died of stomach cancer in July 2007, aged 75.[2]
His memorial service was held on August 4, 2007 at the Aoyama Sogisho funeral hall in Tokyo and was attended by about 800 people, including well-known persons in the political, literary and activist fields in Japan. Afterward, an estimated 500 people held a peace march in Oda's memory, marching through the streets of downtown Tokyo and vowing to carry on Oda's anti-war activist efforts.[5]
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