JAPANESE WWII LIBEL SUIT DISMISSED: Oe Vindicated

Kenzaburo Oe - photo source Wikipedia

A Nobel Laureate who documented some of Japan’s World War II atrocities on Okinawa has beaten back a libel charge that stemmed from his work.

Japanese judges threw out a libel case against author Kenzaburo Oe, who was accused of lying about the country's wartime past.

In his book Okinawa Notes, Oe described how Japanese soldiers forced hundreds of civilians on Okinawa to commit suicide as US troops advanced during World War II.

The legal battle pitted two retired military officers - including one who thought he recognized himself in the book - against Japan's best-known living author.

In claiming Oe lied, the officers demanded the book be banned and $200,000 (20 million yen) in damages.

Judge Toshimasa Fukami concluded: "The former Imperial Japanese Army was deeply involved in the mass suicides."

The ruling likely chagrinned Japanese right-wing nationalists who have been locked in an overwrought ideological battle with intellectuals such as Oe, whom they see as unpatriotic.

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