Famous quote by Kenzaburo Oe

"Paradoxically, the people and state of Japan living on such moral props were not innocent but had been stained by their own past history of invading other Asian countries"

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The statement by Kenzaburo Oe points to the complexity and paradox within Japan’s postwar identity and moral posture. Oe observes that while postwar Japan may have constructed a sense of innocence, victimhood, or moral exceptionalism, perhaps deriving this from the collective trauma of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or from their experience of national suffering, such self-justifying attitudes rest on shaky foundations, the "moral props" he mentions. Beneath the surface of postwar self-perception lies a much darker, earlier reality: Japan’s imperialist aggression and invasions throughout Asia leading up to and during World War II.

The word "paradoxically" emphasizes the contradiction: the very people and authorities who rely on these moral supports for their national narrative are implicated in a past marked by violence and oppression against their neighbors. Oe’s use of the word "stained" powerfully evokes the notion that historical wrongdoing cannot simply be washed away by subsequent suffering or by adopting a posture of innocence. In Japan's case, this refers directly to its military invasions of China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the war crimes and human rights abuses perpetrated there.

Thus, Oe criticizes self-serving narratives that sidestep or erase historical responsibility. He points to the danger of constructing collective identity or national morality in a way that is decontextualized from honest reckoning with the past. By doing so, he implicitly challenges the audience to recognize that true moral recovery and maturity come not from denial or forgetting, but from confronting and accepting responsibility for actions taken. Oe’s insight remains important not only to Japanese society’s process of historical reflection, but also as a universal lesson: that suffering does not automatically confer innocence, and that genuine moral progress requires the courage to face uncomfortable truths, acknowledge complicity, and seek reconciliation and understanding in the present.

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Japan Flag This quote is from Kenzaburo Oe somewhere between January 31, 1935 and today. He/she was a famous Writer from Japan. The author also have 15 other quotes.
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