Longtime Pacific Stars and Stripes reporter Harold A. Drake has died in Australia of cancer. He was 83.
Hal Drake reported a range of Asian stories from his Tokyo base for 40 years until he retired with his wife, Kaz, to Australia in 1995.
The U.S. military newspaper reported his death Monday but did not say when it had occurred. Former colleague Gerry Galipault told the newspaper: “Stars and Stripes has lost a true legend.”
Born in Santa Monica, California, Drake served with the U.S. Army in the Korean War before joining Stars and Stripes in 1956.
He said in a video interview late in life that he became fascinated with Japan while on leave there during his war service.
Obituary: SHOTARO YASUOKA
Kyodo
Prizewinning writer Shotaro Yasuoka died of natural causes Saturday at his home in Tokyo, his family said Tuesday. He was 92.
His most important works included “Kaihen no Kokei” (“A View by the Sea”), depicting a man looking after his dying mother, and “Ryuritan” (“A Tale of Wanderings in a Strange Country”), which traced his family roots.
Born into the family of a veterinarian in the Imperial Japanese Army, Yasuoka was conscripted into the military during the war while studying at Keio University and served overseas but was eventually sent home due to illness.
Pursuing his literary career while fighting spinal tuberculosis, he won the prestigious Akutagawa literary prize for up-and-coming writers for “Inkina Tanoshimi” (“A Melancholy Pleasure”) and “Warui Nakama” (“Bad Company”) in 1953.
Yasuoka became a member of the Japan Art Academy and was recognized by the government as a Person of Cultural Merit.