The acclaimed Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe has died at the age of 88. In 1994, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 2014, Democracy Now! interviewed him in Tokyo about his work, militarism, nuclear disarmament, Hiroshima and more. He spoke through an interpreter.

Kenzaburo Oe: “I believe that the issue or the experience of nuclear weapons is something too large for any individual to apologize for, and it’s the responsibility of all humanity to take on board. So rather than an apology, I believe that what’s important is to call for an expression of the will and the dedication to create a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Click here to see our interview with Kenzaburo Oe.