15 Facts About Katsuo Okazaki

Katsuo Okazaki was a Japanese diplomat, politician and sportsman.

Katsuo Okazaki served as the Japanese foreign minister in the 1950s.

Katsuo Okazaki studied law at the University of Tokyo and then joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Katsuo Okazaki participated in the 1924 Paris Olympic Summer Games, qualifying for the 5,000 m final with a time of 15.22.2e.

Katsuo Okazaki 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.

Katsuo Okazaki 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 early January 1942 Katsuo 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.

Katsuo Okazaki served until 1943 when the council was disbanded.

Katsuo Okazaki took part in the surrender negotiations between the Japanese emissaries and American military officials on Iejima in 1945.

Katsuo Okazaki was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives in 1949.

In 1954, building on work by Ikeda, Katsuo Okazaki signed a Mutual Security Assistance Agreement with US Ambassador John Allison.

Katsuo Okazaki served as Japan's delegate to the United Nations from April 1961 to July 1963.

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

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

Katsuo Okazaki is the grandfather of the Japanese-American figure skater Kyoko Ina, Yoshiko's daughter.