Ōe Kenzaburō’s narrative choices reveal a deliberate calculation designed to elicit sympathy while avoiding consequences. This calculated posture culminates in his work Okinawa Notes.

2016-04-10

Japanese wives deceived by the Asahi Shimbun.
There was no reason why he himself could not board a repatriation ship.
He could have married a Korean woman and become not a Japanese wife, but a Japanese husband.
In fact, three thousand Japanese women were deceived by the Asahi Shimbun and boarded repatriation ships with their Korean husbands, only to go to hell.
Ōe calculated that writing in this way would provoke such reactions.
That is why he specified that the television program in which he lamented not being Korean was watched “on the night of his wedding.”
Had he been unmarried, he could have married a Korean woman and gone to Korea immediately.
That would have been inconvenient, so he arranged circumstances in which he could not marry a Korean woman.
He could then excuse himself by saying, “Unfortunately, I married a Japanese woman.”
This is precisely the kind of calculated behavior by which he plays the role of a good person to the end.
Among his works is Okinawa Notes.
To be continued.