一般社団法人 日米協会

外務省からアメリカ留学した時、一年後輩の我々6人をダレス空港に出迎えてくれました。ちょうど50年前です。その時アメリカの素晴らしさを熱く語っていたのを今でも覚えています。外務省では若い頃から輝ける存在で、安保課長、北米一課長などのポストを歩み、まさにミスター日米関係というイメージでした。アメリカの友人達からも本当に好かれていました。 岡本さんが湾岸戦争時に海員組合に乗り込んで米軍に渡す4輪駆動車の輸送の船を湾岸まで出すように説得した話は有名です。行動派のイメージがありますが同時にはにかみ屋でやさしい人柄が愛されていました。岡本さんが数十年前に勤務したワシントンに行くと今でも昔からの運転手たちが皆集まって囲む会をやっていると運転手から聞きましたが、ほかにそういう例は聞いたことがありません。男に慕われる男だったと思います。 早く外務省を引きコンサルタント、総理補佐官、評論家の道に進みました。勇気ある決断だったと思いますが、まさに時代が求めたのだと思います。

日米関係にとって本当に大事な人を失いました。心からお悔やみ申し上げ、ご冥福を祈ります。

藤崎　一郎

Mr. Okamoto Yukio passed away after contracting the novel corona-virus. Many of you may remember his balanced and seasoned views expressed on TV or in newspapers.

He was one year ahead of me at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When six of us, newly sent, arrived at Dulles Airport exactly 50 years ago, he was the one to welcome us. I still remember how he very enthusiastically talked about his exciting life in the States.

In the Foreign Ministry, he was a shining figure from a very early stage and held such posts as the director of the security affairs division and director of the First North America Division. He was deemed as “Mr. Japan-US relations” and was truly loved by many American friends.

The story during the Gulf War of his rushing into the Seamen’s Union office and successfully persuading them to dispatch ships to supply 4 wheel-drive vehicles to the Gulf for US troops is well-known. So he is sometimes regarded as a very pro-active type of person. But he was also a very reserved and kind individual. I heard from a driver at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, DC that when Okamoto-san went to DC, drivers who had worked with him many years ago often got together to meet him. I have never heard such stories about other diplomats. He was a truly manly man admired by other men.

He surprised many by leaving the Ministry at very young age and became a consultant, an advisor to multiple prime ministers, and a prominent commentator on foreign affairs. In hindsight, it seems clear that the times required him to take a new course.

We all miss this great key person in Japan-US relations and hope that his soul will remain peacefully in heaven.