Mr.Kazuo Ozaki, the founder of HCJB Japanese Service died in USA

Mr.Kazuo Ozaki, the founder of HCJB Japanese Service, died due to pneumonia in USA, on September 16, 2025, at the age of 92.

Mr.Ozaki was born in Shimoseki, Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan in 1932. 

Graduated from Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, he joined Pacific Broadcasting Association, a Japanese production company specializing in Christian programs. 

In 1961 he was married with Hisako(1925-2006), who was his collage mate. In 1963 he was consulted to serve as a "Radio Missionary" in Ecuador. He was reluctant at first. After reading "Book of Jonah" (the story of Jonah, who was commanded to preach in Nineveh but hesitated, later repenting) in Old Testament, he felt he himself was Jonah, and decided to go to Ecuador.　

He and his wife Hisako arrived in Quito, Ecuador in early 1964. On May 1, 1964 the first HCJB Japanese service on shortwave began, targeting to the Japanese immigrants in South America. But shortwave signal propagated as far as to Japan. Many reception reports were received from Japanese shortwave listeners. Consequently, in 1965, the Japanese service directed to Japan began airing daily for 40 minutes. Both Ichiro and Hisako appeared on the broadcast themselves. The half of the programs were Christian evangelism and other half featured introductions to Ecuador, HCJB, and information for shortwave listeners. In 1964 they received 164 letters from Japan, surging to 61,449 letters in 1976.

HCJB was one of the most popular Japanese-language foreign radio station in 1970-80's. In 1977, Ichiro and Hisako temporarily returned to Japan,  deepening the exchanges with Japanese radio listeners. The Japanese broadcast received the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Award in 1987. The Japanese broadcast ended on December 31, 2000, but strong requests from Japanese listeners for its resumption led to the occasional special broadcasts thereafter. Following HCJB's withdrawal from Ecuador, the Ozaki family relocated to Wheaton, Illinois, USA, in 2003. Responding to Japanese listeners' requests, regular Japanese broadcasts resumed twice weekly in June 2006 from Reach Beyond Kununurra transmitter site in Australia. After the passing of his wife Hisako in September of the same year, Kazuo alone continued to advance the program. Every year he returned to Japan thereafter, appearing at "Listener Meeting" in many cities in Japan and "Ham Fair" (at the JSWC booth) in Tokyo, interacting with many listeners. The "Listener Meeting" held at Yodobashi Church in Shinjuku, Tokyo, on June 1, 2025, was his final interaction with the listeners.

His last voice is heard on HCJB-Japanese broadcast on September 13, 2025 (https://reachbeyond.chowder.jp/radio/japanese_13sep2025.mp3), interviewing with his granddaughter and her Italian friends.

(Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan via WOR/DXLD List)