Community

The Nisei Week Parade Marshal is awarded to those in the community who have made a profound impact on the local Japanese / Japanese American community.

Maia and Alex Shibutani

Siblings Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani are two-time Olympic bronze medalists. They are also three-time World medalists, Four Continent Champions, two-time US National champions, six-time Grand Prix gold medalists, and two-time members (2014 and 2018) of the U.S. Olympic team.

They made history when they became the first figure skaters of Asian descent to win medals at the Olympic Games in ice dance. In PyeongChang, they also became the first sibling ice dance team to win two Olympic medals.

The siblings made their debut as authors in 2020 with the release of “Kudo Kids: The Mystery of the Masked Medalist.” The second book in their middle grade series, “Kudo Kids: The Mystery in Manhattan” was released in 2021. Their next literary project will be a picture book – the planned release of “Amazing: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All” is spring 2023.

Maia and Alex were named Sports Envoys for the U.S. State Department in 2017. Since then, they have traveled throughout Asia to connect with young people at goodwill events. They are also Athlete Ambassadors for the global organization, Right To Play. In 2021, Alex was named to the LA28 Athletes’ Commission.

They are AAU Sullivan Award finalists, five-time Team USA Team of the Month winners, recipients of the Asia Society Game Changer award, and Gold House A100 list honorees.

Pioneer Spirit Award recipients are dedicated, long-standing community volunteers and leaders of the Japanese / Japanese American Community.

Kenneth Sadao Hayashi

Kenneth Sadao Hayashi was born in Ogden, Utah in July 1943 after his family was interned at Rohwer, Arkansas. They settled temporarily in wOgden until they were able to return to Los Angeles after the war.

Back in Los Angeles, Ken attended Dorsey High School and UCLA, where he graduated in 1966 with a degree in accounting. As a young man, he earned his Eagle Scout award and was active hanging out with his friends and cousins, playing basketball, baseball and mastering billiards.

In Sept. 1966, shortly after graduating, Ken was drafted and reported for active duty in the US Army. He went to basic training at Fort Ord in Monterey Bay, worked in the finance office at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and was a distinguished graduate of the Third Army NCO Academy in Fort McClellan, Alabama. Ken went to Vietnam in the summer of 1967, where he served in the 4th division through August 1968. He received the Army Commendation Medal and was honorably discharged upon his return to the United States in 1968.

Back from the war, Ken became an assistant administrator and CFO of City View Hospital and Keiro Nursing Home for the next 11 years, alongside his mentor and friend, Edwin Hiroto. Though he left to become a partner in an accounting firm (1979-1992) with his colleagues and brother, he cherished the work that Keiro was doing for the Japanese American community and became a founding member of the support group, Visions for Keiro. During this time, he also served as the vice chairman of the Pacific Heritage Bank board of directors.

Ken also spent much time volunteering as a Boy Scout and Indian Guide leader. He committed many years to running Yorba Linda basketball leagues and volunteering for Esperanza High School booster clubs. He also coached basketball and baseball, but mostly was an avid fan of his three children – supporting them in soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, musical pursuits and all of the other activities and charity work they were involved.

To do this, Ken wanted to be closer to home and in 1992 he opened his own CPA office just a short distance from home and a mile from the high school where he, his wife and his kids spent many hours.

Once his kids all graduated from high school, Ken left his own practice and became the CFO of Rogers Poultry, until his retirement in October 2018. Since then, he continued to stay busy. He and his wife remain heavily involved in the Nisei Week Festival and Hospitality committee, where his two daughters were court members and his son served as the foundation president. Last, and most personal to him – he commits most of his efforts to ensuring the legacy of Japanese American veterans. He is the chairman of the Japanese American Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee and serves as the president of the Veterans Memorial Court Alliance, a 501(c)(3). This is truly his passion project: something he has dedicated years to building a foundation to ensure the structure and spirit of the Memorial Court is preserved for years to come.

Ken has been married to Colleen (Ishibashi) Hayashi for 47 years, residing in Yorba Linda for 35 years. They have three children, Kimberly (Elias), Kristyn and Cory. You can often find him with them at Dodger games, Clipper games, watching UCLA (and USC for his kids), spending time at and hosting family parties, traveling and taking his grand-dog Copper for walks!

Pioneer Spirit Award recipients are dedicated, long-standing community volunteers and leaders of the Japanese / Japanese American Community.

Masao Morisaku

Masao Morisaku was born in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan, in 1937 and moved to Los Angeles in 1966. He joined an industrial design firm in 1972. During his career with the firm, he contributed to designing many products that are still in use today.

In 1975, he joined the Edgewood Japanese Landscape Gardener Association to learn the profession of landscaping and gardening. He served as the association’s secretary and later, president for many years. During his time representing the Edgewood Association, Masao actively participated in volunteer activities of the Southern California Gardeners’ Federation (SCGF) to serve the Japanese American community, including his volunteer work to beautify the Keiro Retirement Home (Lincoln Heights), a project that began in 1974 and lasted for 34 years.

He served as the Japanese editor-in-chief of “Turf and Garden,” its monthly publication, from 2010 to 2020 and received an SCGF award. This newsletter, published monthly in both English and Japanese, is one of the few monthly publications of its kind in the Japanese American community, and plays a significant role in communicating SCGF members (over 1,000 in 2010). He currently serves as SCGF’s vice president.

Masao has also participated in other gardening clubs and organizations. He joined the American Plant Pruning Group in 1998 and spent time pruning pine trees at the East San Gabriel Japanese Community Center, City of Hope, among other places. In 2010, he and his colleagues started the Southern California Tree Trimming Club and served as its president in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He has also been involved in efforts to maintain Japanese gardens in and around Los Angeles by pruning pine trees, as well as giving demonstrations at the SCGF building.

In addition, Masao has been active with his family’s Kenjinkai and establishing ties between Ibaraki and Southern California. In 1978, he helped to establish the Hitachi-no-kai (Ibaraki Kenjinkai) and has served as president a number of times. He currently serves as an advisor. He was instrumental in establishing a sister park arrangement between “Kairakuen,” a famous Japanese plum tree garden in Mito, Ibaraki prefecture, and Schabarum Park in Hacienda Heights. Thanks to the support and donations from the people and businesses of Ibaraki prefecture, they were able to plant saplings of the Japanese plum trees in Schabarum Park. Even today, the beautiful flowers continue to bloom in early February.

Masao has been instrumental in promoting Japanese culture and Japan-U.S. ties through his hobby of “Shigin.” He has been reciting traditional Japanese poetry for over 40 years. He’s currently the senior instructor of the “Rafu Kokufu Kai.” As the 2011-2012 president of the Southern California Shigin Federation, he continued to promote this traditional Japanese cultural art in the U.S. He was also actively involved in organizing the Shigin Federation’s Japan relief fund sent to Japan during the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Masao’s wife, Noriko, is also active with the SCGF and serves as its Japanese editor and auditor.

The Nisei Week Inspiration Award recognizes exceptional individuals who represent the Nisei Week “spirit” by volunteering their time in the Japanese / Japanese American communities.

Bill Watanabe

Bill Watanabe was born in 1944 at the Manzanar concentration camp and transferred a few months later with his family to the Tule Lake concentration camp near California’s border with Oregon.

He is the son of an Issei father, Rokuro, and a Kibei Nisei mother, Katsuye, from Fukushima, who settled in the San Fernando Valley during the 1930s to grow and sell flowers.

With a bachelor’s degree in engineering that he earned from California State Northridge in 1966, Bill worked a year-and-a-half at Lockheed Missiles in Sunnyvale. From September 1967, he spent a year at the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo.

Studying in Japan was one of the best years of his life, it was fun, and he enjoyed traveling around the country. Bill visited some relatives he had never met before in Fukushima. And he learned to speak Japanese fairly well, or as much as he could learn in nine months. He was 23 years old and had a great time.

Returning home, he worked two years as an engineer for the City of Los Angeles, and then earned his master’s degree in social work at UCLA in 1972. Following stints with Agape Fellowship (an urban Asian American Christian commune) and Japanese Community Pioneer Center, Bill founded Little Tokyo Service Center in 1980 and served as its executive director for 32 years. LTSC was founded to offer a comprehensive program of bilingual social services in the Little Tokyo area to Japanese and Japanese Americans residents.

During that time he guided its growth, in conjunction with the board of directors, from a one-person staff to a multi-faceted social services and community development program with 150 paid staff, many of whom are bilingual in any of eight Asian Pacific languages and Spanish. LTSC has renovated or constructed a number of projects that have helped to strengthen the Little Tokyo community including projects such as Casa Heiwa, the Union Center for the Arts, the renovation of the Far East building and the newly constructed Terasaki Budokan. Bill retired from LTSC in June 2012.

While at LTSC, Bill helped to establish a number of important service organizations in the Asian American community such as the Asian Pacific Community Fund, the Asian/Pacific Counseling & Treatment Center, and the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking.  In Little Tokyo, Bill founded or co-founded some key organizations that have had major impact in the historic ethnic neighborhood such as the Little Tokyo Community Council and the Little Tokyo Historical Society.

Bill has an MSW from UCLA, is married and lives in Silver Lake near downtown Los Angeles.  While formally retired, Bill is currently the president of a new project called the Little Tokyo Community Impact Fund, a community-based real estate investment fund aimed to help heritage small businesses in Little Tokyo which may be threatened by the impact of gentrification.