Takashi Hoshizaki Receives Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation
By Ray Locker
NAP Contributor
Left to Right: Dr. Takashi Hoshizaki and Kenko Sone, Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles, California hold the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California.
Photo credit: Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
Left to Right: Dr. Takashi Hoshizaki and Kenko Sone, Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles, California hold the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California.Takashi Hoshizaki, a member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Board of Directors and a former World War II draft resister, received the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation during a ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California. Kenko Sone, Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles presented the award.
The ceremony took place two days after Hoshizaki turned 99 years old. He is the oldest member of the Heart Mountain board and is one of the few surviving draft resisters from the camps that held more than 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
Hoshizaki was recognized for his contributions to U.S.-Japanese relations, his leadership in creating the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and for his career in the space program. An eminent botanist, he conducted research into circadian rhythms which took him to the Antarctica. He spent his career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory – a federally funded research and development center in La Cañada Flintridge, California.
“I have known Takashi Hoshizaki since my mother died in 2005, and over the years I have worked closely with him in building our museum and now the Mineta-Simpson Institute,” said Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation board. “He has taught me a lot about the need for civility, patience and integrity. These attributes are now part of our core values at Heart Mountain.”
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, a Smithsonian Affiliate, preserves the site where some 14,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated in Wyoming from 1942 through 1945. Their stories are told within the foundation’s museum at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, located between the towns of Cody and Powell.
For more information, call the center at (307) 754-8000 or email: info@heartmountain.org.
