A centenarian says life became "absolutely absurd" in Japan during World War II, especially as authorities cracked down on political crimes under the Public Order and Police Law.
Former social activist Jiro Nishikawa, 106, was born in a fishing village in Ise, Mie Prefecture, in 1909.
That was the year Hirobumi Ito, a four-time prime minister, was assassinated by a Korean nationalist in Harbin, China, when he was the first resident general of Korea, then subjugated to Japan.