Roman Catholic Cardinal. Tokyo born Stephen Fumio Hamao was baptized into the Catholic faith at sixteen years of age. An elder brother of his, Minoru, was a chamberlain to the Emperor of Japan. Receiving his education at the Tokyo State University, he entered the Major Interdiocesan Seminary of Tokyo, later pursuing his studies at the Pontifical Collegio Urbaniano and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Speaking English, French, Italian and Spanish besides Japanese, he was learning Korean when he died. Teaching Latin to the former Crown Prince and future Emperor of Japan, he was ordained priest on December 21, 1957 in the chapel of the Pontifical Collegio Urbaniano in Rome by Monsignor Pietro Sigismondi. Back in Tokyo, he was assigned to the chancery and served as secretary to the cardinal archbishop, vice-chancellor of the archdiocese, notary and vice-official of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, responsible for the ministry to students in the archdiocese, pastor of the cathedral, secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy, member of the Presbyteral Council and member of the Preparatory Commission of the Archdiocesan Synod. Pope Paul VI elected him auxiliary bishop for the metropolitan see of Tokyo on February 5, 1970, receiving his episcopal consecration with the titular see of Oreto on the following April 29 inside the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in Tokyo. A passenger on board Japan airlines flight 351, hijacked in 1970, Hamao was transferred to the see of Yokohama on October 30, 1979. Serving as president of the Episcopal Conference of Japan between 1995 and 1998, in 1996 he initiated the annual meeting of Japanese and Korean Bishops that keeps on being held year in and year out. Promoted to archbishop and named president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerants on June 15, 1998, he resigned the pastoral government of the diocese of Yokohama on June 15, 1998. Known for his sense of humor and his willingness to travel anywhere to spend time with refugees, seafarers, circus workers and Roma gypsies, Pope John Paul II created him cardinal deacon in the consistory of October 21, 2003 with the deaconry of San Giovanni Bosco in via Tuscolana. Resigning the presidency of the council, after returning from Japan on August 24, 2006, he underwent medical tests at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where the doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer. Deciding to return to his homeland, two days before departing for Tokyo on October 9, he had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI. The Cardinal succumbed to the disease on Thursday, November 8, 2007 in his native Tokyo. His funeral took place on the following Monday, November 12, at noon, at the local metropolitan cathedral of St. Mary, with Cardinal Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi, archbishop emeritus of Tokyo, acting as principal celebrant and representative of Pope Benedict XVI. Some 1,800 people, including about 200 bishops and priests took part in the concelebrated mass.