Katsuo Okazaki

Japanese athlete and politician

Katsuo Okazaki

Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
30 October 1952 – 9 December 1954
Prime Minister| Shigeru Yoshida
Preceded by| Shigeru Yoshida
Succeeded by| Mamoru Shigemitsu
Chief Cabinet Secretary
In office
6 May 1950 – 26 December 1951
Prime Minister| Shigeru Yoshida
Preceded by| Kaneshichi Masuda
Succeeded by| Shigeru Hori
Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council
In office
5 January 1942 – 1 August 1943
Preceded by| John Hellyer Liddell
Succeeded by| Council disbanded
Personal details
Born| 10 July 1897
Kanagawa, Japan
Died| 10 October 1965(1965-10-10) (aged 68)
Tokyo, Japan
Political party| Liberal Democratic Party (1955–1963)
Other political
affiliations| Democratic Liberal Party (1949–1950)
Liberal Party (1950–1955)
Alma mater| Tokyo Imperial University

Katsuo Okazaki (岡崎 勝男, Okazaki Katsuo, 10 July 1897 - 10 October 1965) was a Japanese sportsman, diplomat and political figure. He served as the Japanese foreign minister in the 1950s. He was also the final – and only Japanese – chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council.[1]

## Early life[edit]

Okazaki was born on 10 July 1897 in Kanagawa, Japan. He was the 10th son of Yasunosuke Okazaki.[2] He studied law at the University of Tokyo and then joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[3]

## Sporting prowess[edit]

Okazaki participated in the 1924 Paris Olympic Summer Games, qualifying for the 5,000 m final with a time of 15.22.2e.[4] In the final, he fainted in the heatwave and was carried away by medics.[5] He had much success at the Far Eastern Championship Games, winning the mile run at the 1921 Games then doing a middle-distance double in the mile and 880 yards at the 1923 event in Osaka.[6]

## Consular positions[edit]

Okasaki served as second secretary to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. in the early 1930s.[7]

He also served in numerous positions in China during the 1930s, including serving as Japanese Consul-General in Nanjing after the Fall of Nanking to the Imperial Japanese Army and during the Nanking Massacre. In 1938, he was serving as Japanese Consul General in Canton.[8] In October 1939 was appointed Japanese Consul at Hong Kong, a position he held until January 1941.[9]

## Shanghai Municipal Council[edit]

In early January 1942 Okazaki was appointed as Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council after the British and American members resigned following the commencement of the Pacific War and the occupation of the Shanghai International Settlement by Japanese troops.[10] After the resignation of the Commissioner General, G. Godfrey Phillips which took effect from 1 March 1942, Okasaki also took over the role of Commissioner General in an honorary capacity.[11] He served until 1943 when the council was disbanded.

## Surrender of Japan[edit]

The Japanese representatives on board USS Missouri during the surrender ceremonies on 2 September 1945. Okazaki is in the second row, second from the left (in top hat).

Okazaki took part in the surrender negotiations between the Japanese emissaries and American military officials on Iejima in 1945. He was present as a representative of Japan at the formal surrender on 2 September 1945 aboard the USS Missouri.

## Post-war political and diplomatic career[edit]

Okazaki in 1951

Okazaki was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives in 1949. In 1951, he was appointed by Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida as Chief Cabinet Secretary and state minister without portfolio.[3]

In 1952, he was appointed Foreign Minister and served in that position until 1954. In 1954, building on work by Ikeda, Okazaki signed a Mutual Security Assistance (MSA) Agreement with U.S. Ambassador John Allison.[12]

In 1961 he was called out of retirement to serve in the United Nations in what was described at the time as a move to strengthen the Japanese delegation. He served as Japan's delegate to the United Nations from April 1961 to July 1963.[13]

## Death[edit]

Okazaki died on 10 October 1965 in Tokyo of a stomach ulcer at the age of 68.[13]

## Family members[edit]

Okazaki was married to Shimako with whom he had a son, Taro, and a daughter, Yoshiko.[14]

He is the grandfather of the Japanese-American figure skater Kyoko Ina, Yoshiko's daughter.[15]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Katsuo Okazaki". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
2. ^ 『第廿一版 人事興信録 上』
3. ^ a b Obituary, New York Times, Oct 12, 1965, p47
4. ^ Sports Reference for Katsuo Okazaki
5. ^ Raevuori, Antero (1997). Paavo Nurmi, juoksijoiden kuningas (in Finnish) (2nd ed.). WSOY. p. 174\. ISBN 951-0-21850-2.
6. ^ Far Eastern Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-18.
7. ^ T Maga, Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials, p. 41
8. ^ China Monthly Review Volume 86, page 422
9. ^ Hong Kong Government Gazette, October 25, 1939
10. ^ New York Times, Jan 9, 1942, p4
11. ^ Shanghai Municipal Council Annual Report, 1942, p6
12. ^ Geffard, Sydney (1997). Japan Among the Powers, 1890-1990. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06891-7.
13. ^ a b Washington Post, October 12, 1965, pC4
14. ^ Yoshiko's name could possibly be Toshiko. Obituary, New York Times, Oct 12, 1965, p47 The New York Times' obituary referred to Okazaki's daughter as "Toshiko". Other articles refer to her as Yoshiko or Yoshi. See for example New York Times, "FIGURE SKATING; High Hopes in a Tough Season", January 5, 1998. Her mother's name in Japanese is "淑子" which can be read either Yoshiko or Toshiko. See: http://olympico.cocolog-nifty.com/olympic_plus/2005/10/33_45b1.html
15. ^ Sports Reference for Kyoko Ina

House of Representatives of Japan

Preceded by

Saburo Ogoshi

|  Chair, Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of Japan
1949-1950  | Succeeded by

Goro Morishima

Political offices
Preceded by

Kaneshichi Masuda

|  Chief Cabinet Secretary
1950-1951  | Succeeded by

Shigeru Hori

Preceded by

Shigeru Yoshida

|  Minister for Foreign Affairs
1952-1954  | Succeeded by

Mamoru Shigemitsu

Government offices
New office |  Director, Intelligence and Analysis Service of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan
1945  | Succeeded by

Shoji Ogata

Diplomatic posts
Consulate evacuated  |  Japanese Consul General to Guangzhou
1939-1941  | Succeeded by

Nagao Kita

Preceded by

Akiyoshi Tajiri

|  Japanese Consul General to Hong Kong
1940-1942  | Succeeded by

Seiki Yano

N/A  |  Japanese Consul General to Kolkata
1941  | Office abolished
Preceded by

Koto Matsudaira

|  Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations
1961–63  | Succeeded by

Akira Matsui

* v
* t
* e

Japan Championships in Athletics men's 1500 metres champions

* 1913: Ikichi Ide
* 1914–15: Taku Gishiro
* 1916: Tadanao Suzuki (10 miles)
* 1917: Tominosuke Kato
* 1918: Taku Gishiro
* 1919: Eiichi Nagayama & Takeharu Aso
* 1920: Katsuo Okazaki
* 1921: Kikuo Toda
* 1922: Kintaro Sawada
* 1923: Shuzaburo Sato
* 1924: Not held
* 1925: Naomon Nawada
* 1926: Hideo Okada
* 1927: Koshio Tsuchiya
* 1928: Shin Hisatomi
* 1929–30: Seiichiro Tsuda
* 1931–34: Tsunemori Hamada
* 1935: Kiyoshi Nakamura
* 1936: Kuniaki Iwabuchi
* 1937: Isanji Omori
* 1938: Reiji Miyagi
* 1939–40: Satoshi Seguchi
* 1941: Not held
* 1942: Satoshi Seguchi
* 1943–45: Not held
* 1946: Susumu Takahashi
* 1947: Yukio Kikuchi
* 1948–49: Shoji Suda
* 1950: Kikuo Moriya
* 1951: Michio Ueki
* 1952: Yoshitaka Muroya
* 1953: Hiroaki Chosa
* 1954: Yoshitaka Muroya
* 1955: Hiroaki Chosa
* 1956: Norio Okayama
* 1957: Shigeo Murata
* 1958–59: Kiyoshi Tanaka
* 1960: Yabuta Manabu
* 1961: Katsuyasu Sato
* 1962: Satsuo Iwashita
* 1963: Jean Wadoux (FRA)
* 1964: Satsuo Iwashita
* 1965: Yoshiyuki Aoba
* 1966–68: Satsuo Iwashita
* 1969: Toru Ota
* 1970–73: Kazuyoshi Mizuno
* 1974: Noro Susumu
* 1975: Shigeo Miyahiro
* 1976–77: Takashi Ishii
* 1978: Toshifumi Shigenari
* 1979–80: Takashi Ishii
* 1981: Masami Otsuka
* 1982: Masami Naganuma
* 1983: Takuya Hashiba
* 1984: Yutaka Hirai
* 1985–86: Masami Otsuka
* 1987: Yoshikazu Arata
* 1988: Shigeki Nakayama
* 1989: Mogens Guldberg (DEN)
* 1990: Yoshikazu Arata
* 1991–92: Mitsuhiro Okuyama
* 1993: Yasunori Uchitomi
* 1994: Mitsuhiro Okuyama
* 1995: Go Yamamoto
* 1996: Tomihiro Umezu
* 1997: Kiyonari Shibata
* 1998: Philemon Hanneck (ZIM)
* 1999: Kiyoharu Sato
* 2000: Junji Kimiya
* 2001–02: Fumikazu Kobayashi
* 2003–04: Jun Tsuji
* 2005–08: Fumikazu Kobayashi
* 2009: Yuichiro Ueno
* 2010: Yasunori Murakami
* 2011: Hiroshi Ino
* 2012: Keisuke Tanaka
* 2013: Yuki Akimoto
* 2014: Keisuke Tanaka
* 2015: Nanami Arai
* 2016: Masaki Toda
* 2017–18: Ryoji Tatezawa
* 2019: Masaki Toda
* 2020: Ryoji Tatezawa
* 2021: Kazuki Kawamura
* 2022: Kazuto Iizawa
* 2023: Kazuki Kawamura

Authority control databases

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