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Changing Hawaii
COLUMNIST Edward A. Neilan would always "threaten" that, one day, he was going to drop everything in Tokyo, fly to Honolulu and stop by the Star-Bulletin newsroom. He vowed to take me up on a long-standing offer of lunch with our entire opinion-page staff in some ritzy, beachfront restaurant in Waikiki. Tokyo-based writer
will be missedUntil that happened, and once a week for the past seven years, Neilan conscientiously produced pointed commentary on Asian affairs, especially about Japan's who's-prime-minister-this-week political gyrations.
His latest pieces for the Star-Bulletin included the one on Nov. 16 headlined, "Chen dispute threatens Taiwan Strait stability," Nov. 13's "International flights are worse than uncomfortable," and the Oct. 27 profile of Carlos Ghosn, the Frenchman running Nissan Motor Co.
Among the slew of syndicated columns penned mostly from Washington, D.C., and focused on the U.S. and its peccadilloes, Neilan's essays from Tokyo were a unique and welcome addition to these pages.
Of all the states in the union, certainly none is more interested in this country's all-important neighbor to the east than Hawaii. Our man in Japan, Ed Neilan, was the perfect person to put it all in perspective.
He was born in Los Angeles, where his father was a screen writer.
Neilan attended the University of Southern California, where he was editor of the Daily Trojan. He also did graduate work at the University of London.
Career highlights included being editor and publisher of the Alexandria Gazette in Virginia, Hong Kong bureau chief for the Copley News Service and foreign editor of the Washington Times.
During his assignments in Asia, Neilan covered the Tet offensive in the Vietnam War and the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. He began his syndicated column in 1993 and the Star-Bulletin was one of his first clients.
He was a former first vice president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan and had just presided over a Nov. 17 news conference, where friends said he appeared to be in good health. He regularly worked out at an exercise club near his apartment in Shibaura, Tokyo.
SO it was with profound sadness on Wednesday that I received the following fax from his office:
"It is our deep sorrow to notify you that Edward Arthur Neilan passed away on Nov. 21 from instant heart failure. He was 68 years old. He is survived by his wife, Masae Sato, and two daughters, Carolyn and Andrea.
"We highly appreciate that you have extended the kindness and assistance to him during all his years as a journalist, scholar and in private life. He will always remember you."
Yesterday, as the people of Hawaii celebrated with a massive meal and post-turkey jook, I couldn't help but mourn that Ed Neilan never got to see the place he'd always dreamed of visiting.
But then I realized that, while he'd never actually come here, his writings about Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea and other Far Eastern ports did hit these shores.
We are proud they were prominently shared in this newspaper.
Aloha, Ed. To echo a line in that letter from your office: We will always remember you, too. You and your observations will be dearly missed.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.