ITF president Paddy Crumlin and ITF general secretary Steve Cotton have expressed their loss and regret over the passing of Shoshiro Nakanishi, former president of the All Japan Seafarers’ Union, the JSU, and long term member of the Federation’s executive board.
Expressing their condolences to Yasumi Morita, the president of the JSU, Mr Crumlin and Mr Cotton wrote:
We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Brother Shoshiro Nakanishi, retired President of the All Japan Seamen’s Union (JSU), following a long illness. Please accept our deepest sympathies and condolences to Brother Nakanishi's family, friends and fellow unionists of the JSU, on behalf of the entire ITF Affiliates, officers and staff.
Brother Nakanishi lived a long and tremendously rich and rewarding life. He was a senior officer of the ITF, who gave his time and commitment unstintingly to those responsibilities. He was a strong and greatly respected leader, who constantly championed the cause of seafarers and other maritime workers within the JSU over many years, along with the rights and interests of seafarers, maritime and other workers internationally, but especially within the Asia-Pacific Region.
His loyalty, strength and quality of leadership over those many years translated into better and more secure lives for those workers and their families, helping to, in turn, build new opportunities and protections today and into the future for a new generation of maritime and transport workers. He will be greatly missed at this year’s JSU Congress, an occasion he rarely missed and where we were able to refresh our friendship and appreciation regularly over recent times.
Again, on behalf of the entire ITF Family, please relay our deepest sympathies and condolences to his family friends and members, officers and staff of the JSU in the sincere hope that it may give some further strength to bear this loss.