Seinan Gakuin University: Economics in 1995
"May I put this on you?" asked Hattori Mieko as she stepped forward and presented an antigun sticker to U.S. President Bill Clinton. The president, a rugged man with reddish cheeks," as Mieko describes him, bent toward her and smiled, she recalled recently at her home in a suburb of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. The White House visit of Mieko and her husband Masaichi on November 16, 1993, marked the climax of the antigun signature campaign they launched immediately after the death of their 16-year-old son Yoshihiro in October 1992. An exchange student at McKinley High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he was shot by a local houseowner Rodney Peairs while looking for a Halloween party.
The Hattoris handed Clinton 1,76 million signatures from supporters (most of them Japanese) of their plea for tougher gun control in the United States. The death of Yoshi, as he was called by his host family and American classmates, did not initially make headlines in a country where a shooting death is not news. The meeting of the boy's parents with the president, however, was broadcast all over the world. After the event, Masaichi met the press and repeated the rhetorical question he had asked throughout the campaign; "Which is more comfortable to live in a society where people have guns or one where no one has guns?" Masaichi was soft-spoken as always, despite his strong message for change in the United States. He added sympathetically, "I hope this country will learn something from the death of Yoshihiro. I hope at least it will move toward tightening gun control and eventually reducing the number of guns in society.
The Hattoris' movement did not always gain support and sympathy. It touched a raw nerve for some Americans, who insist they have the legal right to possess guns. Some branded the campaign as interference in U.S. internal affairs. It was reported that Yoshi's killing and reactions to it in Japan caused a stir in the United States and that the presence of Japanese media and the campaign led by the Hattoris provoked local hostility. Among the critics of the campaign were Japanese residents in the United States who insisted that the two societies were historically different. But Masaichi was not deterred. He believed everyone was signing the petition of their own free will and that American society was generous enough to listen to the message from Japan.
For the Hattoris, the antigun petition drive was something they could do for Yoshi. Continuing their legal efforts to have Peairs take responsibility for his action is another; the couple filed a civil suit in July 1993. Unlike other Japanese who have swallowed the pain and anger they felt when their loved ones were involved in fatal accidents overseas, the Hattoris chose to take a stand.
The fruits of their gun control movement are many. The Hattoris channeled their personal tragedy into a national cause in the United States, contributing to the passage of the Brady Law. And they have found comfort and friendship in the "many wonderful people" they came to know. Mieko, in a poem titled "On the Airplane," wrote that she has met many courageous Americans Yoshi would have been thrilled to meet.
But for Mieko the biggest blessing must be the change in Masaichi, who now comes home early. She says, "Masaichi was one of Japan's corporate warriors and the child-rearing responsibility was all on my shoulders. It is sad to see him now doing so much as Yoshi's father. But at the same time, I think Yoshi would be happy about the change in his father, because Yoshi is after all our dear son."
本文の内容と合致するものを４つ選びなさい。
イThe campaign the Hattoris organized helped toward the passage of the Brandy Law.
ロShooting with guns is very popular all
over the world.
ハThere was a lot of immediate news reporting
on Yoshi's death in Louisiana.
ニMasaichi broke his habit of working excessively
hard after the death of his son.
ホThe signature campaign and the lawsuit
were two different things that the Hattoris
could do for Yoshi.
ヘYoshi impressed many courageous American
people with his liveliness and sense of humor.
トThe Hattoris began launching an antigun
campaign immediately after they met with
Bill Clinton.
チJapanese reactions to Yoshi's death aroused
a variety of feelings among the American
public.
リMany of the Japanese residents in the U.S.
were very critical of the Hattoris.
ヌMasaichi told the press that the society
most comfortable to live in would be one
where people without guns are friendly with
those who possess them.
ルThe Hattoris were unable to do anything
initially because they were so emotionally
upset by Yoshi's death.
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