We do not need sympathy, being deaf does not affect our intelligence and capability. We just need a little bit of help in terms of accessibility and inclusivity such as subtitles on TV shows, advertisements and sign interpreters at live shows.

Ishikawa was a poet of great ability who wanted to develop critical 'realism', but dealt too 'emotively' with human suffering and was isolated from the mainstream of socialist activity. He was passionately in sympathy with the latter, but is marked down as a 'romantic'.