Kiyoshi “Kan” Mizoguchi, JA1BK
sk May 2026

Kiyoshi “Kan” Mizoguchi, JA1BK, a well-known DXer, DXpeditioner, CQ DX Hall of Fame member, and former Director of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 3, passed away in May 2026 at the age of 93. He was a member of the ARRL Maxim Society at the Fellow Class.

First licensed in 1952, Mizoguchi became involved in the creation of IARU Region 3, which covers most of Asia and the Pacific, and served as a Director from 1968 to 1975.

His interest in DXing included both chasing and being the DX, and he is credited with identifying new entities and helping put them on the air for the first time. Some of those places include the Marquesas, the Australs, the Chesterfield Islands, Ducie Island, and Swain’s Island.

Mizoguchi built a competitive DXing station and achieved success as a DXer, reflected in his award achievements in the ARRL DX Century Club – DXCC. He reached 383 countries in the Mixed DXCC category, 382 on phone (within the top ten in the world), and 354 on CW. He was on the Top of the Honor Roll with all 340 current entities on Mixed, Phone, and CW. He is perhaps best known for his impressive total of 271 countries on the 6-meter band – 8th place in the world and 1st in Asia.

Mizoguchi also reached 3,252 countries in the popular DXCC Challenge – 9th in the world. As he gained interest in the Challenge, Mizoguchi began chasing down missing confirmations from his old logs and learned that many other stations’ logs had been discarded or lost. He sought a way to try to save some logs, especially those from unique or rare operations, and, in 2014, funded the DX Log Archive, operated by ARRL, which collects, catalogs, and digitizes such logs (Major ARRL Second Century Campaign Gift from JA1BK Will Support DX Log Archive, ARRL News, 8/24/2014).

Mizoguchi was a frequent presenter at DX conventions and was inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame in 1987. Bill Kennamer, K5FUV, who retired from the ARRL staff in 2000, wrote: "I first met Kan over 30 years ago, and we had a close friendship over many of those years. We operated several DXpeditions and attended several conventions together. He was behind many of the major DXpeditions over the years, giving strong financial support, and he was a strong financial supporter of ARRL. He gave all of us ‘new ones’ at various times over the years, and he will be missed."

Mizoguchi earned an engineering degree from Tokyo University in the early 1950s and started a company with the rights to import all semiconductor manufacturing machinery in Japan. He retired from that company at age 60 and gave the company to his employees. He then started a one-man engineering design firm called Kan Technosonics, which operated for several years. Mizoguchi is survived by his wife Reiko and daughter Keiko. KW9A

It was very exciting and an honor to meet Kan at the Dayton Hamvention and contact him from his many DXpeditions. Ham radio has lost another great one! K8CX

1958 Photo

Back Row: L to R: JA1TD, JA1AAW, JA1EF, JA3IW
Middle Row: L to R: JA1CR, JA1CJ, JA1CC, JA1BK
Front Row: L to R: JA3AA, JA1AG, JA1CO, JA5AI.

A 1960 QSL Card and JA1BK hamshack photo.

April 1979

K4SMX, N2OO, K7JA, KL7MF, JA1BK

On the way home from the 1S1DX Spratly DXpedition April 1979, I (N2OO) operated from Brunei as VS5OO.
Chip, Janet and Kan JA1BK hosted a welcome back hibachi dinner for me and Stew during a stop over in Tokyo.

September / October 1991
ZA1A QSL Card, the 1st licensed Amateur Radio operation from Albania

ZA1A 1991 Albania

Operators: DF5UG, I2MQP, I2KMG, I5FLN, IK0FEW, JA1BK, JA1HQG, N7NG, W7SW, OH2BH, OH1RY, OH1VR, OH2BAZ

1997 Scarborough BS7H DXpedition QSL Card

BS7H 1997 Scarborough Reef

Operators: BA1OK, JA1BK, N7NG, W6EU, W6RGG, JA1RJU, BA4RC, BA1DU, BG7KW, BD7JG, BD4RX.

May 1999

Kan operated in the Philippines as DX1S
OH2BH, JA1BK, DU1EIB, DU3YL, DU9RG, DU1KT

Dayton 2002

JA1BK receiving the Northern Ohio DX Association "Lifetime Achievement Award" from KB8NW.

2003 4W1BK Timor Leste DXpedition by Kan JA1BK

4W1BK 2003 Timor Leste

Operator: Kan Mizoguchi JA1BK

Listen to 4W1BK (JA1BK) on 20M CW!

Dayton 2007

N2OO, JA1BK

Dayton 2008

JA1BK

Tribute courtesy of KW9A, K8CX
1960 QSL, Hamshack photo SM5LNE Collection
1979 Photo courtesy of N2OO
ZA1A QSL from the estate of W3GH
DX1S QSL from the estate of W2JGR
1958 Photo from Don Chesser W4KVX The Ohio Valley DX Bulletin #37, July 22, 1958
BS7H QSL from the estate of W6FW
4W1BK QSL from the estate of W8KVU
Dayton photos by K8CX
Thanks to W3UR for info and coverage