People in Japan are mourning the death of Nobel Prize laureate author Kenzaburo Oe and praised his tireless social activism and anti-war campaigns.

Oe, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, died earlier this month at age 88.

The author warned against the dangers of nuclear power and advocated for an anti-war Constitution. He also left a great impression on those who interacted personally with him.

Oe published “Okinawa noto” (Okinawa Note) in 1970, which traced the lives of residents and the history of the islands.

In the book, he wrote that the Imperial Japanese Army ordered mass suicides during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

Oe was sued in the Osaka District Court in 2005 for allegedly defaming former Japanese military commanders.

Harumi Miyagi, 73, a researcher on Okinawan women’s history who resides in Naha, was one of the witnesses for Oe during the trial. She gathered testimonies from her mother and other residents who survived a mass suicide in Zamami village.

"I felt like I was forcing the residents to recall their tragic memories, but I was supported by Oe’s belief in protecting the residents’ testimonies,” she said.

The district court issued its ruling in March 2008 siding with Oe. The Osaka High Court upheld the ruling in October the same year. 

After the high court’s ruling, Oe sent a fax through his lawyer to Miyagi, expressing gratitude for her testimony.

“He was a conscientious person,” Miyagi said.

The Supreme Court finalized the ruling in 2011 that the military was involved in the mass suicides, rejecting the plaintiff’s appeal.

Miyagi is now investigating records of sexual crimes that U.S. military personnel committed against women in Okinawa.

She said that when she read local newspapers before Okinawa was returned to Japanese sovereignty in 1972, she often saw articles reporting on Oe’s visits to the prefecture and listening to the stories of the locals.

“I learned from the articles that Oe focused on the people of Okinawa and tried to convey their story to the mainland to record the tragic war,” she said. “I really respect him for that.”

Haruko Moritaki, 84, a special adviser to the citizens’ group Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, also lamented Oe’s passing.

“Oe was special for the people of Hiroshima,” she said.

Her father, Ichiro, who was a hibakusha, devoted his life to banning atomic and hydrogen bombs.

“Nuclear weapons and humanity cannot coexist," Ichiro advocated.

He was referred to as the old philosopher in Oe’s book “Hiroshima noto” (Hiroshima Notes).

Moritaki said Oe’s “book has many elements that are still relevant today and must never be forgotten.”

The word “human dignity” in the book particularly left a strong impression on her.

“Human dignity is still being trampled on in wars,” she said. “Learning how to preserve it is a philosophy that is common to opposing war, denying nuclear weapons and fighting against discrimination and abuse.

“He universalized and expressed such thoughts,” she said.

She also recalled how she once invited the author to give a lecture in Hiroshima.

He may have been difficult to approach, but she felt a sense of closeness when he spoke about the Hiroshima Carp, the city's professional baseball team, in the car ride to the venue, she said.

Moritaki said the current situation, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Japan’s defense capabilities buildup, “would have been unbearable” for Oe.

“We should not make Oe into a ‘historical figure.’ We need to remember his words,” she said.

Oe was also one of the advocates for the Kyujo no Kai (Article 9 Association), a group of intellectuals calling for protecting Article 9 of the Constitution.

The clause outlaws war to settle international disputes and states that armed forces will not be maintained.

Satoru Ikeuchi, a professor emeritus at Nagoya University and a member of the association, described Oe as a “symbolic figure of the association.”

“We must inherit his will to protect Article 9 of the Constitution, which vows that Japan shall never again go to war, and pass it on to future generations,” he said.