by Jesse Ball
INT.
Where shall we begin?
MR. ODA
I was not surprised when I heard the news, when I was told by our neighbor that someone had seen my son taken away to the police station. I can tell you that, Mr. Ball. I was not surprised at all. If these things took others by surprise, well, they did not take me by surprise.
INT.
Why were you not surprised? How could you possibly have guessed that such a thing would happen?
MR. ODA
I have always known that something terrible was going to come. Until then our life had gone well. I was living in the shadow of this thing, this terrible thing that no one else could see. But, I knew that it was coming. Fishermen are not like other people. We can tell things; not like priests. I am not saying we are special or deserve any regard. We deserve no regard. In fact, one might say we are the lowest ones, drudging around in the water for a lifestyle that keeps one’s family poor, that never amounts to anything. But we do see things. Sometimes we see them before they happen. It is not reliable. It isn’t the same as knowing about things. One doesn’t find it useful, you see? Do you, do you see? It isn’t a useful thing. It is just a thing. I knew something grave was coming, and when it came, I recognized it. I had seen it before, you see. It was like an old friend. Or an old enemy. One saw, though, immediately, that there were no preparations that could have been made. That sort of thing is just foolishness.
INT.
So, you thought Sotatsu was doomed? That he never would have amounted to anything?
MR. ODA
He and my brother got along very well. My brother’s business was nearly ruined by that, by Sotatsu’s presence. But they got on well.
INT.
Why did you not visit your son in the jail?
MR. ODA
What do you mean? I went there. I went there first, before anyone.
INT.
I’m sorry, I know that, I meant to say, why did you not visit him after that first visit? Why did you stop going?
MR. ODA
This is not the reason I came here to talk to you.
INT.
Do you have something else you want to talk about?
MR. ODA
I do. I do.
INT.
Well, tell me what you want to tell me. I am ready to hear anything you have to say.
MR. ODA
Mr. Ball, my son was ill. He was ill his whole life. He was sick once as an infant. My wife denies it, but she is a moron. He cried once for two weeks straight and his head turned blue. He recovered, but he was never the same. He was always ill with this, whatever it was. He thought he could hear bells ringing all the time. It was part of his illness. That’s why he was always playing records. He wanted it out of his head.
INT.
No one else says anything about this.
MR. ODA
You shouldn’t listen to the others. This is what we are saying, that I am telling you the things now that you can use. We are talking about that.
INT.
I understand that. You said that already.
MR. ODA
Maybe others couldn’t see it, but I always could. I could always tell when he was about to do something stupid. He would get this blue look, this look that I recalled from his childhood. It would be like he was being strangled, but he wasn’t, and you would know, you would just know—he is going to do something now that everyone will regret. And then he would do it. Of course, he would never apologize either, afterward. He would do something like, for instance, he would forget to greet me when I came in. I would just stare at him and stare at him, waiting, and the longer I stared the more I could see it building up. Then, instead of saying anything, anything at all, he’d just up and run off out of the house. And Jiro would run off too. Anything he did, Jiro would do. Only Jiro didn’t have the sense that Oda sometimes had. Although now, it’s not easy to say which one turned out worse.
INT.
Are you angry at Jiro for something that he has done?
MR. ODA
You come here and it is like you are going to fix something, but either the thing that is broken is part of something that is gone, or you are doing no good with the thing that is still around. I don’t know why I came to talk to you.
INT.
Please, just let me ask you a few questions. You said at one point, after the accident, when you were in the hospital, you said …
MR. ODA
That is an invention of my wife’s. I was not in the hospital. I don’t know about that. She talks about it sometimes. I don’t know where she got that.
INT.
All right. Well. It is said that you forbade the family from visiting with or talking about Sotatsu. That you were very angry with Sotatsu and no longer wanted to have him be a part of your family, that you specifically told your daughter, your wife, and your son not to speak to him or visit him. Is that true?
MR. ODA:
I do not think that you, I think, I …
[Int. note. Here, Mr. Oda got up and left the house in great confusion, stopping occasionally to tell me that I should not speak to his wife, his son, or his daughter, that his son was not to be believed, and that he did not understand why I had come in the first place. I apologized to him for making any difficulty, and told him that I was going to use his testimony as well as any other testimony I could find because I wanted the account to be complete. He said that this was an idea with no merit, that there wasn’t anything complete, that I should just leave.]
Int. Note: Regarding the Newspaper Coverage of the Trial
For the next section, I will provide you with the serialized coverage of the Oda Trial that ran in many newspapers throughout Japan during that time. The writer, Ko Eiji, was a well-known journalist with a particular stylistic approach that endeared him to his audience. Nonetheless, during these proceedings he provided a mostly clear delineation of opinion and fact. I will not give all of his serialization, but enough to make events apparent. His serialization can be divided into:
1. sketches of the main individuals involved
a. Oda Sotatsu
b. Judge X
c. Judge Y
d. Judge Z
e. Prosecutor W
f. Defense Counsel R
2. descriptions of the emotional climate in which the trial took place
3. daily account
a. events in court
b. notable events in jail
c. sentencing, exit of Oda Sotatsu
That Ko was biased against Oda Sotatsu is very evident. I ask you to understand that it is almost inconceivable that he should write in a markedly unbiased manner at this time, even if he felt differently. I do not believe that he did feel differently. I believe that he wrote as he felt. However, it is simply a fact that temperatures in the Sakai region were running very high. I like to think that if I had written a contemporaneous account, I might have kept my equanimity and been a bit more forgiving than he proved to be. It is likely that such a hope is just a pretension. One may often (after the fact) criticize the play-by-play in a boxing match, but the simple fact is, the commentator must continue speaking, whatever he sees, however much or how little, however bad his position relative to the fighters.
I should note also that Ko is a pen name. It indicates a principle in Go, whereby a person must move a stone elsewhere on the board before playing back into a particular contested area. In this way, he sets himself up as a lover of complexities. You may decide for yourself if he deserves the name he has given himself.
Incidentally, this account was used by newspapers not only in Osaka Prefecture but throughout Japan.
ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
Sketch of ODA SOTATSU.
ODA SOTATSU
Son of a fisherman, Oda Sotatsu. Twenty-nine years old. A product of the Osaka Prefecture school system. What was his work? A clerk in a thread concern. It has been several weeks since he was removed from the population, and wh
y? He is accused of the abduction and perhaps murder of eleven of your fellow citizens. This young man, this quiet individual—it is rumored he has even confessed to the crimes. I give you now a pen sketch of Oda as he sits in the courtroom under the hard eyes of his three judges.
Hair cut rather short—perhaps expressly for the trial. It was rumored it was long when he was brought in. He sits uneasily in his chair wearing a very cheap suit, a suit, as someone once said, made to be hanged in. He is small of stature, and his gaunt cheeks express at least some of the savageness that must lurk beneath his unthreatening exterior. Most of all, most chilling of all to the observer is the despicable coldness of the eyes. Nothing anyone says seems to move him. He is in a globe of cold that refuses all human contact. We shall see if he can maintain the same air when the judges pronounce their sentence at the trial’s conclusion.
ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
Sketch of JUDGES: Judge Iguchi; Judge Handa; Judge Shibo.
JUDGE IGUCHI
The first to enter. Strength of character is evident in the line of the jaw, the poise of the shoulders. One can see that the first thing Iguchi does is to fix Mr. Oda in his gaze and to hold him there, as though a hawk has beheld a mouse. His many years of distinguished trial service recommend him to us.
JUDGE HANDA
A relative newcomer, Judge Handa has seen his share of difficult and complicated cases, and has rendered many powerful and just decisions. Known for his conduct in the Misaki trial of 1975, he was feted in the newspapers at the time. Since then he has only continued his good work. If Mr. Oda believes that Judge Handa’s relative youth will be a factor in his favor, one would be startled by the optimism.
JUDGE SHIBO
It is not necessary to describe this man to the public of the Sakai region. His omnipresence in community affairs and his generosity make him a distinguished role model both for our youth and for those of us who still can change for the better. He is active as a professor in university as well as in his judicial vocation, and it is clear that the case benefits from his presence. A tall man, he is known for a habit of holding one elbow with the fingers of his opposite hand while considering a case (as shown in last year’s famous and excellent judicial illustration by the artist Haruna).
I hardly think the public could be better served in this case.
ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
Sketch of Prosecution and Defense: Prosecutor Saito, and Defense Counsel Uchiyama.
PROSECUTOR SAITO
Known for a time as the man with the 100 percent conviction rate, a prosecutor consulted for many years by other lawyers in districts far afield for his definitive opinions, Prosecutor Saito comes with the very highest possible honors to this trial. It is rumored that his pretrial investigations have led him to another certain conviction. We shall see the effect of that ourselves. It was said at one time that as a young man, Saito resembled a heron. Whether this was meant with a view to humor or to the establishment of dignity, who can say? If he remains a heron, it is one in flight. When he lands to wade in criminal waters it is a sacrifice he makes on our collective behalf.
DEFENSE COUNSEL UCHIYAMA
In fifteen years of service, the stolid Uchiyama has kept his search for the truth at the forefront of his pursuit of excellence. His sturdy build and strong face should reassure the public; he does nothing without thought for the victims, for the populace, for justice, and for the eventual absolution of the criminal. Well-known among his comrades, he has earned a fine reputation. We look forward to seeing his work in this trial.
ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
DAY ONE
Oda Sotatsu is brought into the room. He is seated. He, Prosecutor Saito, and Defense Counsel Uchiyama await the entrance of the judges. One by one the judges enter the room and are seated.
The rumor is that while in police custody, Mr. Oda refused to speak. It is said by some in the radical press that he was treated badly, and that view may well be borne out by the poor health he appears to exhibit. However, opponents of that view would be quick to point out that remorse could easily be destroying his health. Whatever the case is, we shall see if he continues his silence into the trial.
The prosecutor and defense counsel approach the judges. Some discussion is evident. They return to their places. The prosecution presents its indictment. Oda Sotatsu is accused of the abduction and murder of eleven individuals. When the charges are read, Mr. Oda is unmoved. His knuckles are not white, his pupils do not dilate, his brow does not quiver. He is quite unmoved.
Nothing seems to touch him as Prosecutor Saito speaks, not even the reading aloud of a damning document signed by Mr. Oda himself prior to reaching police custody. It is a confession, but it is not a confession signed and countersigned legally in the eyes of the law. It may show his guilt, but whether it can be considered the equal of a properly-arrived-at-confession is a matter to be discovered in time.
The judges confer. The question is brought to Oda Sotatsu and to Defense Counsel Uchiyama:
Will Oda Sotatsu admit or deny the facts as set down in the indictment?
Oda Sotatsu speaks. It is as though he is summoning up words from deep within him, with great difficulty. At first what he says cannot be made out. Judge Shibo asks that he speak louder. He is made to speak louder. He says, He does not know about the facts of the indictment, yet he holds to the confession that he signed, as he signed it.
This is not good enough for the judges. Again, he is asked, concerning the facts of the indictment prepared by Prosecutor Saito, does he admit or deny them? Mr. Oda repeats himself. He does not know about the facts of the indictment, yet he holds to the confession that he signed, as he signed it. Mr. Oda is told that he has just heard the indictment. He cannot be thought ignorant of the indictment. What is being asked of him is that he simply admit or deny those facts. Mr. Oda speaks again, he says that he, while aware of the indictment, nonetheless can neither admit nor deny it, rather, he respectfully holds to the confession that he has signed, as he signed it.
Through all this, Defense Counsel Uchiyama appears greatly chagrined, but attempts to appear unmoved. Can it be he did not know this was going to happen?
The judges call for a recess. The trial will continue on the following day.
ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
DAY TWO
Oda Sotatsu is brought into the room. He is seated. He, Prosecutor Saito, and Defense Counsel Uchiyama await the entrance of the judges. One by one the judges enter the room and are seated.
The judges announce: it has been decided that, as the general effect of the language present in the confession is a mirror to that of the indictment, it is legitimate and appropriate that admitting the facts of the confession is identical to admitting the facts of the indictment, and that as a practical matter, it shall be considered as such in this case.
The court will therefore be recessed for the day, and on the following day Prosecutor Saito will present his case.
ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
CONDITION OF MR. ODA
It has become known that Oda Sotatsu has, at some point in the week previous, stopped eating altogether. At the point of the trial’s inception, he was on the fourth or fifth day of his fast. In the radical papers, it is being called a hunger strike. We see no grounds for that, as it is not apparent that Mr. Oda’s fast has any purpose, or any possible object. Certainly, Mr. Oda has not made that object known.
ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
ATMOSPHERE IN THE PREFECTURE
While staying in the region for the trial, I have witnessed a huge outpouring of emotion. There is great hope that the trial may move Mr. Oda to confess the location of the victims of the Narito Disappearances. Whether that will happen or not is, however, completely unknown. It is even espoused in some legal circles that the trial may be lengthened in the hopes that the particular sort of pressure it exerts might be helpful in eliciting a full disclosure by Mr. Oda. Whether that will be the case or not
is unclear. Certainly it appears that no effort has been spared in the selection of the individuals involved in the trial. Also, the results of Prosecutor Saito’s pretrial investigation have not yet been made known. It is quite conceivable that he has discovered information that may be of use.