Life
Okabe was appointed reserve second sublieutenant of the Imperial Japanese Navy and became the first mate on an English ship. He caught typhoid fever while the ship was at anchor in New York. After recovering, he remained in the US and got a job at the Edison Institute in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
Okabe was not only an engineer for Edison, but also protected him with his Jujitsu. Edison liked him very much, and brought him camping with Henry Ford and Harvey Samuel Firestone.
Okabe had connections with business, political and noble society in Japan. Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi met Okabe in Menlo Park, in 1909. Baron Okura Kihachiro also supported Okabe in inviting Edison to Japan around 1926. Okabe negotiated with Okura's support, but this attempt was a failure because Edison was busy developing synthetic rubber. Viscount Kaneko Kentarō was a close friend of Okabe. At ceremony held in memory of Edison on January 22, 1931, Kaneko presented Okabe as "Edison introduced me to one Japanese who worked in his secret laboratory, when I visited America to procure war expenditure. He was Honorable Yoshiro Okabe!"
In 1934, Okabe was invited to the unveiling ceremony of monument of Edison in Otokoyama Kyoto, because Edison used a filament of bamboo for his first successful light bulb. He was guest of honor with the Viscount Kaneko as one of Edison's closest Japanese friends. He established the steel industry in Kobe and made a fortune repairing ships for northern Europe.
His business was steadily declining before World War II. Kenpeitai investigated Okabe for espionage because he lived in the US, but it was a false charge. Near the end of the war, Okabe was killed in Kobe by a US air strike.
Read more about this topic: Yoshiro Okabe
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