Photo/Illutration Antonio Inoki at news conference in 2017 (Gen Okada)

For no apparent reason, the faces of those who died over the past year come across my mind at the end of the year.

Including Queen Elizabeth II, many notable figures from various fields lived out their life span.

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation announced that “sen,” meaning “war,” is the kanji of the year for 2022.

That got me thinking about what those people I was paying tribute to had fought for before their deaths.

In his quest to prove he was the strongest man alive, a young Antonio Inoki, a pro wrestler-turned-politician, took on Muhammad Ali in 1976.

The much-ballyhooed bout was later dubbed the “most boring match of the century.”

However, for those who saw the fight, it was an unforgettable sight from the Showa Era (1926-1989).

It is tempting to imagine the two legends having a rematch in the afterlife.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot to death during the Upper House election campaign in July.

His tendency to confront those with different views might have been most clearly on display during the 2017 Tokyo metropolitan assembly election.

As protesters repeatedly shouted “resign” in unison at Abe, he responded, “I must not be defeated by people like this.”

Many people battling to prevent history from fading into oblivion also passed away in 2022.

Actor Akira Takarada, renowned for his starring role in the first “Godzilla” movie, continued to talk about his experience of returning from Manchuria, a former Japanese colony, after Japan’s defeat in World War II to convey “the stupidities, horrors and sinfulness of war.”

Japanese writer Katsumoto Saotome survived the “night of fire” brought by the 1945 Great Tokyo Air Raid, which left an estimated 100,000 people dead in a single night.

Yoshiro Yamawaki, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, was also an active hibakusha “storyteller.”

“I hear someone wail in the darkness/ Permanently,” goes a poem by Kim Chi-ha, a South Korean poet who protested the country’s military dictatorship while he was imprisoned.

In China, Bao Tong, a former secretary to the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, also called for freedom and democracy.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union who brought an end to the Cold War, and U.S. actress Marsha Hunt, known for her fight against McCarthyism, also died this year.

There are many more people I want to mention, but, unfortunately, there is not enough space.

As I wonder about the victims of the war in Ukraine, I keenly feel afresh the weight of what happened in the past year.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 30

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

Related News