Ted Tsukiyama

Ted Tatsuya Tsukiyama ({{langx|ja|築山達哉}},{{cite web | url=https://hojishinbun.hoover.org/?a=d&d=tht19441214-01.1.6&srpos=52&e=-------en-10--51--img-%e7%af%89%e5%b1%b1------ | title=Hawaii Times 1944.12.14 — Hoji Shinbun Digital Collection}} December 13, 1920 – February 13, 2019) was a Japanese American attorney and bonsai enthusiast. During World War II he was a member of the Varsity Victory Volunteers, 442 Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service. He was the first Japanese American to graduate from Yale Law School.

Early life

Tsukiyama was born on December 13, 1920, in Kaimuki, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was raised in Japan until he was 6 years old, when he moved back to Hawaii. He graduated from Roosevelt High School.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hpr2.org/post/ted-tsukiyama-veteran-lawyer-arbitrator-dies-age-98|title=Ted Tsukiyama: Veteran, Lawyer, Arbitrator Dies at Age 98|last=Oshiro|first=Sandee|website=www.hpr2.org|access-date=2019-02-16}}

Career

When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, he was a student at the University of Hawaiʻi and a member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After the attack, he was a member of the Hawaii Territorial Guard, until all Japanese Americans in the Guard were dismissed from service because of their ancestry. He joined the newly-formed Varsity Victory Volunteers, then the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Once he entered the military, he was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service, where he was ordered to serve in Burma, listening in on radio transmissions from the Japanese Air Force.{{Cite web|url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/02/15/hawaii-news/ted-tsukiyama-nisei-was-hawaii-defender-at-time-of-mistrust-of-japanese/|title=Ted Tsukiyama: Nisei was Hawaii defender at time of mistrust of Japanese|last=Cole|first=William|date=2019-02-15|website=Honolulu Star-Advertiser|access-date=February 15, 2019}}

When World War II ended, Tsukiyama returned to his studies, transferring to Indiana University Bloomington, where he earned a bachelor of arts in government in June 1947. He then attended Yale Law School, and was the first Japanese American to do so.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/02/16/respected-wwii-vet-ted-tsukiyama-dies/|title=Respected WWII Vet Ted Tsukiyama dies|date=February 16, 2019|website=Hawaii News Now|access-date=2019-02-18}} After graduation, he became an attorney in Honolulu.{{Cite web|url=http://ddr.densho.org/narrators/479/|title=Ted Tsukiyama {{!}} Densho Digital Repository|website=ddr.densho.org|access-date=2019-02-16}}

In 1951, he married his wife Fuku. They had three children.

Throughout his life, Tsukiyama was also a bonsai enthusiast.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kitv.com/story/33653229/war-veteran-spreads-peace-through-bonsai|title=War veteran spreads peace through Bonsai|date=November 7, 2016|website=www.kitv.com|access-date=2019-02-16}} He helped found the Hawaii Bonsai Association with David Fukumoto,{{Cite web|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Jun/06/ln/ln40a.html|title=Kurtistown bonsai grower prospers among twists of fate|last=Clark|first=Hugh|date=June 6, 2001|website=the.honoluluadvertiser.com|access-date=2019-02-16}} and in 1989 he helped to found the World Bonsai Friendship Federation.{{Cite web|url=http://www.northamericanbonsaifederation.com/history.html|title=History|website=www.northamericanbonsaifederation.com|access-date=2019-02-16}} He earned an Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays in 2001 for his work with bonsai.{{Cite journal|last=Balendonck|first=Marybel|date=Winter 2001|title=Bonsai Hero|url=https://estatedocbox.com/Architects/67980342-Ted-tsukiyama-accepts-imperial-award.html|journal=National Bonsai Foundation Bulletin|volume=12}}{{citation |title=Ted Tsukiyama | newspaper=Discover Nikkei |year= 2019 |url=http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/author/tsukiyama-ted/}}

Tsukiyama died on February 13, 2019, from complications after a stroke.

References

External links

[https://jcch.soutronglobal.net/Portal/Default/en-US/RecordView/Index/4677 Oral history interview]
[https://archivesspace.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/repositories/4/resources/42 Ted Tsukiyama Archival Collection]

Category:1920 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:Indiana University Bloomington alumni

Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni

Category:Writers from Honolulu

Category:Military personnel from Hawaii

Category:Yale Law School alumni

Category:American military personnel of Japanese descent

Category:United States Army personnel of World War II

Category:Bonsai artists

Category:Lawyers from Hawaii