Consul General Kosei Murota presents Takashi Hoshizaki with the proclamation that accompanies the medal.
Dr. Takashi Hoshizaki, a board member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and noted scientist, received Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays, in a ceremony on Oct. 23 at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center in Little Tokyo.
Kosei Murota, the Japanese consul general in Los Angeles, presented the award to Hoshizaki, 101, and noted his multiple contributions to science and U.S.-Japan relations. A botanist and expert in circadian rhythms, Hoshizaki spent his career working for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His research in Antarctica was noted in a 1961 article in The New York Times.
“Of all the events in my life, this one really culminates me,” Hoshizaki said after receiving the award.
While incarcerated at the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming during World War II, Hoshizaki was among the 85 Nisei men who resisted the military draft because he was denied his freedom. They said that they were willing to serve if Japanese Americans’ civil rights were restored.
Back row, from left: Darrell Kunitomi and John Kim, HMWF board members; George Brooks and Carol Hoshizaki, Takashi’s son-in-law and daughter; Lia Nitake, Marc Sugiyama-Mann, Kris Horiuchi, Katie Chizuko Solien, and Kathy Saito Yuille, HMWF board members; Margot Walk, HMWF supporter and advisor; Aura Sunada Newlin, HMWF executive director; Jon Hoshizaki, Takashi’s son.
He was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to two years in federal prison. President Harry Truman pardoned him and the others on Dec. 24, 1947. Hoshizaki later served in the military during the Korean War.
Hoshizaki’s life “is a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit,” said Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of JANM. “It’s meaningful to have this ceremony in our Democracy Center.”
The award was important, said Heart Mountain Board Chair Shirley Ann Higuchi, “because I don’t want Takashi’s story to be forgotten.”
HMWF’s board and staff attended the ceremony.
HMWF, a Smithsonian affiliate, preserves the site where some 14,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated from 1942 through 1945. Their stories are told within the foundation’s museum, Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, and its affiliated Mineta-Simpson Institute located between Cody and Powell. For more information, call the center at (307) 754-8000 or email info@ heartmountain.org.