Comprehensive information and links about Ayako Sono

Ayako Sono (曽野綾子 or 曾野綾子, Sono Ayako ( born in Tokyo on September 17th (Shōwa 6) 1931 - Ayako Sono 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 (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.

table (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) (無名碑: A Nameless Monument), featuring the construction sites of the Tagokura Dam and the Asian Highway , 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 (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). (哀歌: Lamentations), a record of the dramatic experience of a nun Haruna, who encounterd the Rwanda Genocide. (「いい人」をやめると楽になる: Stop Being ”Nice”, and You'Be liberated), a collection of epigramsAfter 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.