The essay stirred strong protests from animal rights advocates when it appeared in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Aug. 18. She did not sterilize the three female cats she kept as pets, and admitted to hurling the newborn kittens over a cliff as soon as they were born.
As of Sept. 19, the Nikkei has received 1,497 e-mail and telephone calls about the essay. Most have criticized her actions, saying that they are "cruel and disgusting," "violate the spirit of animal protection," and "disregard the value of life." She was also criticized for contending that killing a young kitten was the same as sterilizing an adult cat.
There were several comments, though, that sympathized with her and hoped that she would continue to write on the subject of life and death.
Bando, 48, contributed the following article to the Mainichi Newspapers to explain her reasons for her actions as she awaits possible criminal action in Tahiti. This week (Sept. 20 to 26) is Animal Protection Week in Japan.
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I'm not very good with people. I get tense and nervous when I'm around others, and it's difficult for me to love other human beings. That's why I keep cats. The love that ordinarily would be directed toward other people is given instead to my pets. This allows me to maintain a world in which there is at least some form of love. It is because of my pets that I'm able to prevent my "fountain of love" from running completely dry. The reason I keep pets, therefore, is purely for self-serving reasons.
My cats serve as a mirror for me, for I can see myself through them. When I caress them, I'm caressing myself. And when I took it upon myself to kill newborn kittens, I was essentially killing myself. It was a truly painful and mortifying experience.
But unless I do something about the new litter, the kittens will grow up in no time and produce young of their own. The house will become full of cats. I may not be able to feed them all, and the kitchen is sure to become a mess. And yet, I can't bring myself to get rid of all my cats.
People tell me that I should sterilize my cats if I don't want to be overrun with young kittens. This is an option that modern society has embraced in order to keep pets without too much difficulty.
But this is something I can't bring myself to do. The scrotum and uterus are the sources of new life. To surgically remove them also means removing life energy and vitality. What if I were forced to undergo a sterilization operation? I may convince myself that this was unavoidable, given my lack of financial assets or ability. But in the bottom of my heart, I know that I don't want to lose my source of life energy.
Another thing that disturbs me about sterilization is that it is something performed on a lesser animal by a higher one. Homosexuals were neutered because they were regarded by Nazi authorities as being inferior humans. Lepers, too, were once sterilized in Japan.
If one approves of forced sterilization for animals, one could easily also apply this attitude to other humans. So I harbor suspicions about people who can claim, in good conscience, that pets should be sterilized.
The essay I wrote for the Nikkei has been misconstrued in Tahiti as well. The French Polynesian government may prosecute me, but I would ask that they carefully study my actions to determine whether they really constitute cruelty to animals. Without first ascertaining the facts, my prosecution would be tantamount to a suppression of the freedom of speech.


"The article which becomes beginning"

Novelist Masako Bando causes uproar by admitting to killing kittens in column
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/349108.html