高知市
Yasuoka was born in pre-war Japan in Kōchi, Kōchi, but as the son of a veterinary corpsman in the Imperial Army, he spent most of his youth moving from one military post to another. In 1944, he was conscripted and served briefly overseas. After the war, he became ill with spinal caries, and it was "while he was bedridden with this disease that he began his writing career." Yasuoka died in his home at age 92 in Tokyo, Japan.