35 Facts About Bill Hosokawa

William Kunpei Hosokawa was an American writer and journalist.

Bill Hosokawa retired from the newspaper industry in 1992, at the age of 77.

Bill Hosokawa's best-selling book Nisei: The Quiet Americans chronicles the experiences of second-generation Japanese Americans, known as Nisei.

Bill Hosokawa published his final work, Colorado's Japanese Americans: From 1886 to the Present, when he was 90 years old.

Bill Hosokawa was a recipient of the 2007 Civil Rights Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Bill Hosokawa was born on January 30,1915, in Seattle, Washington.

Bill Hosokawa's mother, Kimiyo Hosokawa was an artist and worked as an elementary school teacher.

Bill Hosokawa did not learn English until he began his education, and spoke Japanese at home.

Bill Hosokawa began going by the name William when he started school.

Bill Hosokawa graduated from Garfield High School in Seattle, where his love of journalism was sparked by his time as a sports editor at his school paper.

Bill Hosokawa enrolled at the University of Washington, where he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism in 1937.

Bill Hosokawa found a job working at an English-language newspaper, The Singapore Herald.

At The Herald, Bill Hosokawa reported on political turmoil around East Asia, travelling to China, Japan, and Manchukuo.

Later, Bill Hosokawa moved again to Shanghai, then under Japanese occupation, where he worked for Shanghai Times and The Far Eastern Review, which were both published in English and subject to Japanese scrutiny and censorship.

Bill Hosokawa's wife returned to the US in anticipation of the birth of their first child.

Bill Hosokawa did not see his son, Michael, until the baby was 14 months old.

The Bill Hosokawa family was sent first to an assembly center at the Puyallup, Washington fairgrounds where the family, along with others from the Seattle area, lived in horse stalls while the camps were being built.

Since Bill Hosokawa had journalism and writing experience, he was appointed the editor of the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp newspaper, The Heart Mountain Sentinel.

Bill Hosokawa's column offered his personal observations on the internment of Japanese Americans.

Bill Hosokawa's topics included bigotry and what he called "native fascism".

Bill Hosokawa employed Hosokawa, who served as a war correspondent for the Denver Post through the Korean War and Vietnam War.

Bill Hosokawa worked at the Post as a columnist, associate editor, and assistant managing editor at the paper.

Bill Hosokawa left the Denver Post in 1984 and took a position as the reader ombudsman at the Rocky Mountain News, which was the arch-rival of the Denver Post.

Bill Hosokawa remained with the Rocky Mountain News for eight years, until his retirement from the newspaper business in 1992.

For 58 years, from 1942 until 2000, Bill Hosokawa published a regular column in the Japanese American Citizens League's newspaper, The Pacific Citizen.

Bill Hosokawa served as president of the JACL from 1958 to 1960.

Bill Hosokawa worked to promote opportunities from Nisei and Sansei Japanese Americans during his career.

Bill Hosokawa defended and advocated for the Japanese American community during this time of distrust, convincing The Seattle Times to print a full page of photos depicting Japanese Americans engaged in everyday life to humanize them to readership, and to show that they were "peaceful, law-abiding," and "constructive" as told to Densho.

Bill Hosokawa often helped Japanese Americans, as well as recent immigrants, find jobs and counseling.

Bill Hosokawa served as the Honorary Consul General of Japan for Colorado from 1976 until 1999.

In 1987, Bill Hosokawa received Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.

Bill Hosokawa received on honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Denver in 1990 for his work in journalism and literature.

Bill Hosokawa was a recipient of the 2007 Civil Rights Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Bill Hosokawa died on November 9,2007, at the age of 92 at the home of his daughter, Christie Harveson, in Sequim, Washington, where he had lived for the previous four months.

Bill Hosokawa was survived by his two daughters, Christie and Susan, his son, Michael, his brother, Robert Hosokawa, as well as eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.