Growing up in Taiwan left Ozaki with a deep respect and affection for Chinese culture, and was very fond of the island, where he spent his childhood.

[2] Ozaki's father worked for the Japanese colonial government and taught his son that as Japan was the most advanced of the Asian nations it had a special "civilizing mission" - not only in Taiwan, but in all of Asia.

[3] Ozaki was opposed to the crude anti-Chinese racism of the Japanese ultra-nationalists, who saw the Chinese as a people fit only to be slaves, which led him to an increasing estrangement from his country as time went on.

Ozaki arrived in Shanghai believing that it was Britain that had a parasitical economic relationship with China, and the Chinese nationalist movement was largely anti-British.

[citation needed] On July 2, 1941, Ozaki as a member of the "Breakfast Club" supported a critical decision for Japanese expansion towards the Dutch East Indies and Singapore and against Hitler's request to invade Siberia.

During his trial, it was revealed that Ozaki had been working with Sorge since his return to Japan, and that through his close contacts with Konoe and other senior Japanese politicians, was able to gather information and to copy secret documents.

A collection of letters that Ozaki wrote to his wife and daughter from prison explaining why he betrayed his country, was published under the name Love Is Like a Falling Star in 1946 and became a best-seller in Japan.