By reading Huckleberry Finn I felt I was able to justify my act of going into the mountain forest at night and sleeping among the trees with a sense of security which I could never find indoors.

I think, we can only write very personal matters through our experience. When I named my first novel about my son "A Personal Matter," I believe I knew the most important thing: there is not any personal matter; we must find the link between ourselves, our "personal matter," and society.

If any suffering was fruitless it was the agony of a hangover; what he suffered now could not expiate suffering of any other kind.

After I got married, the first child born to us was mentally handicapped.

The ambiguous orientation of Japan drove the country into the position of an invader in Asia.

The ideal teacher student relationship exists when the student is better than the teacher.

By reading Huckleberry Finn I felt I was able to justify my act of going into the mountain forest at night and sleeping among the trees with a sense of security which I could never find indoors.