Ayako Sono(曽野綾子 or 曾野綾子, Sono Ayako ( born in Tokyo on September 17th (Shōwa 6) 1931 - ) is a writer and a Catholic. Her baptismal name is Maria Elisabet. She went to the Catholic Sacred Heart School in Tokyo after elementary school. During World War II, she evacuated to Kanazawa. After writing for the fanzines La Mancha and Shin-Shicho (新思潮: New Thought), she was recommended by Masao Yamakawa, an established critic at the time, to Mita-Bungaku (三田文学: Mita Literature), for which she wrote Enrai No Kyaku Tachi (遠来の客たち: Visitors from Afar), one of the shortlisted stories for the Akutagawa Prize in 1954. That piece attracted a considerable attention due to the heroine girl’s lighthearted attitude toward the occupation forces. The year next, she was married to Shumon Miura (三浦 朱門), one of the members of Shin-Shicho. They are famous for their happy marriage. She continued producing many works, until she started suffering from depression. She had safely recovered from the crisis. The naming of “the Bas Bleu Era”(才女時代: Saijo-Jidai) by the writer and critic Yoshimi Usui famously described the prosperous activities of female writers including Sono or Sawako Ariyoshi—one of her contemporary who had published many reputable books that are still being read. In the history of Japanese literature, Sono belongs to the category of “the Third Generation” together with Shusaku Endo, Shotaro Yasuoka, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, Nobuo Kojima, Junzo Shono, Keitaro Kondo, Hiroyuki Agawa, Syumon Miura, Tan Onuma, and Toshio Shimao. The modern skyline of Tokyo is highly decentralized. ... September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... The Shōwa period (昭和時代, lit. ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Baptism is a water purification ritual practiced in certain religions such as Christianity, Mandaeanism, Sikhism, and some historic sects of Judaism. ... Jesus Sacred Heart The Sacred Heart is a devotional name used by some Roman Catholics to refer to the physical Heart of Jesus as a symbol of Divine Love. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ... Kanazawa Kanazawa (金沢市; -shi) is the capital city of Ishikawa in Japan. ... The Akutagawa Prize (芥川龍之介賞 Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Shō) is Japans most prestigious literary award. ... Shusaku Endō (遠藤 周作 Endō Shusaku, March 27, 1923 - September 29, 1996) was a renowned 20th Century Japanese author who wrote from a unique perspective of being a Roman Catholic Japanese. ...

Works

Novels

Her major novels include

• Tamayura (たまゆら: Transience), which portrays the nihilistic daily life of man and woman
• Satō-gashi-ga-kowareru-toki (砂糖菓子が壊れるとき: When a Sweetmeat Breaks), modeled on Marilyn Monroe and made into a film starring Ayako Wakao (IMDb)
• Mumeihi (無名碑: A Nameless Monument), featuring the construction sites of the Tagokura Dam and the Asian Highway
• Kizu-tsuita-ashi (傷ついた葦: Bruised Reed), which describes in a most dry style a life of a Catholic Father
• Kyokō-no-ie (虚構の家: The House of Fiction), a bestseller depicting domestic violence
• Tarō-Monogatari (太郎物語: Taro Story), which features her son Taro as the protagonist
• Kami-No-Yogoreta-Te (神の汚れた手: The Soiled Hands of God, translated into English as The Watcher from the Shore ), on the theme abortion and dignity of life problems, with a gynecologist as the protagonist
• Tenjō-no-ao (天上の青: Heavenly Blue, translated into English as No Reason for Murder , a crime novel based on real serial murder and rape cases by a man named Kiyoshi Okubo, which tries to describe the extremity of love
• Kyō-ō-Herode (狂王ヘロデ: Herod the Mad), which portrays the half life of Herod the Great, who is notorious for the Massacre of the Innocents, through the eye of a mute lute player called "Ana" (hole).
• Aika (哀歌: Lamentations), a record of the dramatic experience of a nun Haruna, who encounterd the Rwanda Genocide.

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), was an American actress of the 20th century. ... The Asian Highway (AH) project is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and the United Nations ESCAP to improve the highway systems in Asia. ... Domestic violence, by barest definition, is violence within a home. ... The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer to a Supreme Being. ... Herod I, also known as Herod the Great was a Roman client-king of Judaea. ... The Holy Innocents by Giotto di Bondone. ... The Book of Lamentations is a book of the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh. ...

Her short stories include

• Nagai-kurai-fuyu (長い暗い冬: Long, Dark Winter), which is known as a masterpiece and anthologized often
• Rakuyō-no-koe (落葉の声: The Voice of Falling Leaves), which describes the end of Father Maximilian Kolbe
• Tadami-gawa (只見川: The River Tadami), which sings of a love torn apart by WWII

Maksymilian Maria Kolbe (8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941), born as Rajmund Kolbe, was a Polish Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a family father in the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...

Her essays include

• The two million bestseller Dare-no-tame-ni-aisuruka? (誰のために愛するか: For Whom Do You Love?)
• Kairō-roku (戒老録: A note of Admonition to the Old) on the way how we behave in old age
• II-hito-o-yameruto-raku-ni-naru (「いい人」をやめると楽になる: Stop Being ”Nice”, and You'Be liberated), a collection of epigrams

An epigram is a short poem with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement. ...

Political and Social Activities

• Sono is also know as a conservative.
• In 2000, she welcomed Alberto Fujimori, ex-President of Peru, to stay at her house.
• After the death of Ryoichi Sasakawa, one of the biggest rightist leaders, Sono took over his position as the head of the “Nippon Foundation,”(日本財団) whose funds come from 3 percent of the profits of the boat races all over Japan. As the chairperson, she had focused on welfare and assistance of undeveloped countries , until 30 June, 2005, when her term of office finally expired after nine and a half years of dedication to and effective investment in the impoverished people.
• She works as the president of an NGO named “Kaigai-senkyosha-katsudo-enjo-koenkai” (JOMAS :Japan Overseas Missionaries Assistance Society) to help Japanese missionaries devoting their lifetime in foreign countries.

• She has been selected as a Person of Cultural Merits in 2003, following her Husband’s honor in 1999.