[2] His parents ran a well-established confectionery shop in Tokyo’s Ueno district.

During the war his family escaped from the American air raids to Gunma Prefecture, but Okano stayed to attend a high school.

[4] In March 1957, Okano graduated in psychology from the Faculty of Letters, and in early 1961 spent three months in West Germany to train as a football coach.

In September 1990 he became a member of the IOC, and in 1995 of the FIFA Olympic Tournaments' Organizing Committee.

Okano died from lung cancer on 2 February 2017 at a Tokyo hospital.