Character and Life
A very popular and dynamic personality, he later became a diplomat and was sent from the Japanese embassy in London to Iraq where he was killed by unknown assailants with his colleague Masamori Inoue and their Iraqi driver when their car was ambushed on November 29, 2003. He was promoted posthumously to ambassador in recognition of his work by the Japanese foreign ministry (Gaimusho).
Katsuhiko Oku made a point of visiting many countries and finding out what the local people wanted. He saw it as the first duty of a diplomat.
Since 2004 an Oku Memorial Trophy has been contested annually in Richmond, London by the Kew Occasionals club (founded by Katsu Oku's good friend Reg Clark) and some Japanese teams. (See RFU's official newspaper Touchline, February 2007 issue).
Read more about this topic: Katsuhiko Oku
Famous quotes containing the words character and/or life:
“We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused—in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible. On the other hand, the lightness of the artillery should not degenerate into pop-gunnery—by which term we may designate the character of the greater portion of the newspaper press—their sole legitimate object being the discussion of ephemeral matters in an ephemeral manner.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend’s life also, in our own, to the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)