Masako Osada

Masako Osada was born in Shimonoseki, Japan. She holds a PhD in international relations from the University of the Witwatersrand and was founding programme director of the Centre for Japanese Studies, University of Pretoria. A writer, translator and visual and martial artist, her first book, Sanctions and Honorary Whites – an analysis of diplomatic ties between Japan and apartheid South Africa – was published in 2002. Osada has hosted eight solo exhibitions of her visual art, and teaches tai chi and Ryukyu kobujutsu. A committed environmentalist, Osada is an adviser to the not-for-profit, Tears of the African Elephant.

Masako Osada was interviewed about her life, career and hope for the future for 200 WOMEN, a book and exhibition project founded on the principle of gender equality comprising original interviews and accompanying photographic portraits. This landmark project is the realisation of an epic global journey to find two hundred women with diverse backgrounds, and to ask them what really matters to them.

Q. What really matters to you?
Honesty, sincerity, freedom. Honesty and sincerity make one’s life so much simpler and they make society a nicer place to be. Freedom is very important to me. One of the lessons about democracy that has lingered is that freedom and responsibility go together. Freedom means the ability to pursue your calling. I don’t have a nine-to-five job with a set salary and a pension plan – I don’t have financial security, but I’m not a cog in the machine of a large organisation. I choose freedom over security every time.

Q. What brings you happiness?
I will know it when I get there, but I don’t think happiness is an immediate goal. If you can look back on your life and feel content with the path you took, that is happiness. I do find joy in living my life, though. It is in those moments when I can create and express myself through my art. Diversity and identity are very close to my heart, so many of my artworks are a celebration of positive power, of culture and colours. Martial arts bring me peace. I never liked karate as a child – I thought of it as a mindless, macho expression of power against power – but, I have found a much gentler style; learning to control your body and mind leads to mindfulness and inner peace, which in turn makes you kinder.

Q. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
On an individual level, it is having feelings of unhappiness on one’s deathbed. Let’s face it: life is hard. But if you are content when you die, then you will know you’ve had a good life. Not having that feeling would be misery, to me.

Q. What would you change if you could?
I would change people’s attitudes, making them gentler towards each other, to animals and to the environment.

Q. Which single word do you most identify with?
Compassion.