We can build a better community together ― An Ideal Society Kenzaburo Ōe expected, and Jory Fleming is seeing now.
By Hayato Uesugi
Freelance Writer and Translator
「作家は時代の声である、あるいは時代に対して時代の声としての役割を持っている」というふうに信じると、作家は間違ってしまうと僕は思うのです。(…)僕自身は、「できるだけ時代のスポークスマンとはならず、かつ(そして)時代と一緒に、あるいは時代の為政者と一緒に生きていきたいという態度は取らずに」生きていきたいと思っています。
If an author believes the idea “An author is a voice of an era, who acts as it is expected for an era,” he or she will make a mistake. I want to live 'without being a spokesman for an era as much as possible, nor with an attitude to live along the lines of a ruler of an era.
Kenzaburo Ōe (1935-2023), the second Japanese author to win the Nobel Prize in literature, told me at his home in Tokyo on October 17, 1995. The late Ōe, who passed away on March 3, 2023, kindly answered an interview for the 50th-anniversary issue of a magazine called The Study of Current English, to which I contributed as an editor at that time.
After concluding the interview, he looked toward the other side of his spacious living room, where his eldest son, Hikari, was standing.
※
Kenzaburo Ōe was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature for creating "an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today."
The prolific author wrote many influential works since his time at the University of Tokyo. At the age of 22, he published his first work, “Lavish Are the Dead,” a short story about part-time corpse handlers, which appeared in the Bungakukai literary magazine in 1957. The following year, Ōe published another short story about the interaction between boys in a rural mountain village and a black American pilot shot down over the small town. The short story “The Catch” was colored with Ōe's strong wartime memories from his hometown in Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku. Additionally, it showed a strong influence from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was one of Ōe’s favorite novels. “The Catch” earned Ōe the Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards for young authors.
However, after getting Hikari with his wife, Yukari, who is the sister of Juzo Itami, a versatile and award-winning film director, both Ōe’s life and writing style drastically changed.
Hikari was born with a mental disability in 1963. A year later, the publication A Personal Matter was released. It is the story of a father, projected Ōe, coming to terms through darkness and pain with the birth of a brain-damaged son.
While taking care of his disabled son, he first published his powerful essay collection Hiroshima Notes in 1965, in which Ōe spoke out about the Hiroshima bombing and its terrible legacy. The Tokyo-based author continued to write vigorously, releasing one representative work after another, from The Silent Cry (1967) to My Deluged Soul (1973), and from The Game of Contemporaneity (1979) to The Burning Green Tree Trilogy (1993-1995).
At the same time, the Nobel literature laureate noticed the unfathomable potential of Hikari and disabled people, while also incorporating Hikari's natural strength into his works. Even in his magnificent novels, we can occasionally find a disabled person portrayed as Hikari, with his healing power. Jin in My Deluged Soul has a special ability to tell what a bird is crying. With seemingly comical comments, the character subconsciously encourages the protagonist and his comrades in their difficulties to find the best way.
Eeyore, who seems to be Hikari’s another common alter ego, appears more in his father’s books, especially in later ones. Eeyore is always popular among the characters in Ōe’s books, and he makes fun of them with his comical comments, like this:
躰を起した兄は、犬が吠えている金網の囲いまで四、五メートルあったせいもあると思うけど、吠えつのるスピッツに余裕のある態度で呼びかけていた。
――ケン君、ケン君!
――あら、あの犬の名前、知ってるの?
私の問いにはすぐには答えず、澄まし顔で歩き出してから、イーヨーはいった。
――今日は、音読みにしてみました。
スピッツが怯えたような吠え声に変るほど、私はけたたましく笑ってしまった。
「自動人形の悪夢」(『静かな生活』)
Eeyore raised himself and, probably because there was still a good four or five meters to the fence, he called out to the yelping dog with composure, “Ken Ken!”
“Oh? Do you know him?” I asked.
Eeyore let my questions hang in the air, and nonchalantly started walking.
“Today I just thought I‘d call him ‘dog’ in Chinese,” he said.
I laughed so loud the dog’s yelping turned into a timorous whimper.*1
(Kenzaburo Ōe, “A Robot’s Nightmare” from A Quiet Life, 1990)
Hikari Ōe became an established composer, having released four bestselling CDs, including Music of Hikari Ōe (1992). With his amazing ear, which can detect slight differences in birds' tweets just like Jin's, and his comical talent, which sometimes brings joy to people, much like Eeyore, Hikari Ōe showed us that people with autism and disabilities can develop their special talents with the support of their families and supporters.
Kenzaburo Ōe precisely understood that Hikari, as well as his family, would face many difficulties in their lives without the support of others, and he admired all those who extended their hands to help Hikari and his family.
In the CD leaflet of Music of Hikari Ōe, Kenzaburo expressed his gratitude to everyone who helped bring out his son's talent, using the word and idea of 'habit' from Jacques Maritain, a French philosopher.
人間が永い時をかけて、経験をとおして、その職業の根本にあるものをつくる。そこには当の人間の意識的なものも無意識的なものも、すべて参加している。科学者にはその研究をつうじての人格ときりはなしがたいそれがあり、職人にもその仕事をつうじてのそれがある。マリタンは、それを人間が生きる上での習慣だと言っているのです。
A man lays the foundation of his job through his experiences over a long period. This foundation encompasses everything, including both his consciousness and unconsciousness. Just as a scientist's character is inseparable from their work, an artisan's work is also strongly influenced by their character on the job. Maritain refers to this aspect of human life as “habit.”
僕は光にとって作曲することこそ、その生きる上での習慣をなしていると思います。知能に障害のある――知的にはいつまでも子供のままの――息子について、誇張した言い方と聞えるかも知れませんが、僕にはかれの作曲の仕事ぶりとその作品に、光の人格があらわれていると感じるのです。
For Hikari, I believe composing is his 'habit' in his life. I might be overstating my son, who has a mental disability and is like an eternal small kid, but I believe we can see his character in his tunes and musical compositions.
光がもし作曲をしなかったならば、僕や家族はかれの内面にある、いちばん奥の箱にしまわれている繊細なものを、ずっと知らないままでいたことでしょう。それを表現する手段--和音やメロディーの作り方――をあたえ、表現するように励まし、そのようにして表現されたものをピアノなりフルートなりで実際に耳に聞えるかたちにして人につなぐ。
If Hikari didn't compose his tunes, my family and I would have never known something so delicate from the deepest part of his inner world. Giving him a means of expression, to create chords and melodies, and encouraging him to precisely express his feelings before delivering the actual sound to people through musical instruments like the piano and flute.
その過程をつうじて、光の心のうちに――魂のうちに、とさえいいたい思いですが――あるものを、僕らの共通の世界に呼び出してくださった人たちに対して、日々感謝を深めています。つまり僕として、それらの人たちの生き方の習慣に恩恵を受けているのです。
Throughout this process, my admiration for those who compassionately extract something from Hikari's heart ― or should I say, "from his soul" ― and bring it into our world, has been growing in my everyday life. In reality, I benefit from the "habit" they have in their lives.
While appreciating the society and people who have been supporting Hikari and his family, the national novelist suggested that Hikari and disabled people would be saved by “deliberate eyes and new humanity” from the general citizens around them.
He wrote this in an April 18 column in Asahi Shimbun.
Because Hikari has some difficulties with his legs, as well as mental disabilities, his father would need to support his son's walking practice every day. Since he is not able to raise his feet higher due to the difficulties, Hikari would easily stumble over stones. In addition, he would often have epileptic seizures during the practice. In those cases, the father and son would be forced to sit on the ground, appearing like deer caught in the headlights.
One day, Hikari tripped and fell on the street, and his father had to stay there with him. Seeing her worry, an older lady came over to touch Hikari, who hated being touched by someone unknown. His father insisted loudly that his son be left alone, and the lady left indignantly.
Then, the Tokyo novelist noticed a girl on a bike. Ōe describes the girl:
その方が、憤慨して立ち去られた後、私はある距離を置いてやはり自転車をとめ、こちらをじっと見ている高校生らしい少女に気付きました。彼女はポケットからケータイをのぞかせて、しかしそれを出すというのじゃなく、ちょっと私に示すようにしただけで、注意深くこちらを見ています。
After the disgusted lady disappeared, I saw a girl on a bike who also stopped and stared at us intently. The girl, who appeared to be a high school student, took out her smartphone and simply showed it to me while observing us carefully.
光が立ち上り、私がその脇を歩きながら振り返ると、少女は会釈して、軽がると自転車を走らせて行きました。私にとどいたメッセージは、自分はここであなたたちを見守っている、救急車なり家族なりへの連絡が必要なら、ケータイで協力する、という呼びかけでした。私らが歩き出すのを見ての、微笑した会釈を忘れません。
When my son finally managed to get up before I walked with him, I looked back at her. She simply nodded at me and cheerfully rode away on her bike. I understood her message: “I was here and watching both of you. I can use my phone if you need to call an ambulance or get in touch with your family.” I was deeply moved by her smile and nod as we started to walk. I will never forget them.
The achievements of Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Ōe were to make people around the world aware of the power of contemporary Japanese literature, as well as to make them feel the horrors of the nuclear age and start to address it. Additionally, I want to emphasize another significant achievement of the Japanese second novel literary prize winner: he has brought to light the importance of creating a better society where people with and without disabilities can live together.
※
We can build a better community together.
I heard these exact words from Jory Fleming, the author of the 2021 national bestseller, How to Be Human: An Autistic Man's Guide to Life.
To my honor, I had an opportunity to translate Fleming’s book into Japanese and introduce this amazing publication to the Japanese audience.
Fleming, 28, was diagnosed with autism and has never got along with people around him easily. He was unable to succeed in a traditional elementary school.
Although it was practically unthinkable, he was able to graduate from high school and complete four years of college. After that, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study for a master’s degree at England’s prestigious Oxford University and got an MPhil from the established institute. Then he became a researcher at his alma mater, University of South Carolina.
“It [How to Be Human] will inspire you and make you more aware of the inner life of your own mind and that of those around you,” Walter Isaacson, a bestselling author of Steve Jobs Leonardo da Vinci and Elon Musk, submitted his own comment for the blurb on Fleming's book.
Just like Hikari Ōe, the beautiful and astonishing young man(as Walter Isaacson refers to Fleming)also believes smiling works as a buffer between us to build a better community. He sent a message to his Japanese audience on World Autism Awareness Day, April 2.
“Intentionally injecting a smile or sharing a kind word with someone could have amazing spiraling effects on this web of connections. I feel that if we keep that in mind, perhaps it might be just a tiny bit easier to engage other people in our community with love and inclusion.”
※
In July 2016, a terrible incident happened in Sagamihara, Kanagawa in Japan. Nineteen people were killed and twenty-six others were injured at a care home for disabled people, including people with autism. The nation was overcome with profound sorrow and anger after hearing the killer’s terrible comments like “People with severe disabilities should be euthanized.”
Jory Fleming commented on this heinous incident in the Japanese translation of his book.*2
“My hope is that into the future we see more love and care in a way that’s inclusive and building towards an inclusive community—not as many of those terrible incidents like the one that you mentioned.” he suggests all of us should play a role in how we treat disabled people and how society treats disabled people. “We can build a better community together—one that expresses more love and care that’s a part of our human history and less of the bad things that have occurred in the world around us in the past and are happening today as well.”
Jory Fleming, who has autism and faces tremendous difficulties in his everyday life, makes the above statement in his Japanese translated book.
※
“I have been supporting people with autism and mental disabilities.”
After having finished my interview with Kenzaburo Ōe at his house in Tokyo, on October 17, 1995, which also happened to be my thirtieth birthday, I told him that.
The novelist just smiled and sent me off. In the background, I also saw Hikari’s beautiful face. It was one of the best moments in my life.
While working as an editor for one of the oldest and most established publishers in Japan, which mainly publishes English language books, including comprehensive dictionaries, I have published over 90 translated books so far. Simultaneously, I have been volunteering to support people with disabilities and actively seeking useful and valuable English publications on autism and mental disabilities. Eventually, my search led me to discover Jory Fleming and his work.
At the end of the day, we are all just living on the planet. If you actually think about it, we always have to depend on others and on the entire biological and ecological system. We as humans don’t even make our own oxygen. I’m not self-sufficient. You’re not self-sufficient. Nobody’s self-sufficient. (Jory Fleming, How to Be Human: An Autistic Man's Guide to Life)
Again, it is a great honor for me to introduce Jory Fleming and his amazing book to the Japanese audience with my interview with him.
We can build a better community together.
I feel like Jory Fleming envisions an ideal society in the 21st century, just as Kenzaburo Ōe did with Hikari Ōe in the 20th century.
I believe we can create a world where all people, regardless of whether they have autism or face difficulties, come together to make a better world.
*1 Translated by Kunioki Yanagishita and William Wetherall
*2 You can see it here.