Ms. Kimiko Fujita's Jokun award from the Consulate General of Japan's office
Ms. Kimiko Fujita 【Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays】
May 2025
Ms. Kimiko Fujita has been a longtime supporter of the Japanese American community since joining the Orange County Japanese American Association (OCJAA) as a volunteer in 1999. While serving as OCJAA president for 10 years from 2013, she was instrumental in organizing meetings and sightseeing trips for seniors. During the COVID pandemic, she set up digital literacy sessions for seniors and then held seminars and events online, finding creative ways to maintain and revitalize community engagement. When Shohei Ohtani played for the Los Angeles Angels, she helped build strong ties with the team and organized gameday tours as part of fundraising for the Japanese American community. In addition to offering support to OCJAA’s finances, these efforts enhanced the visibility of Japanese and Japanese Americans by strengthening connections between the community and the team.
On the cultural front, Ms. Fujita spearheaded efforts through OCJAA to promote Japanese culture in the U.S. by organizing the Japan Culture Fair and participating in numerous
events such as OC Japan Fair and the Irvine Global Village. In 2018, she proposed the idea to the Los Angeles Angels of holding a “Japan Day,” which became a cultural celebration that autumn in the stadium parking lot that drew 7,000 visitors. Angels’ Japan Day featured performances and exhibitions of Japanese folk music, taiko drums, ikebana, origami, kimono, and traditional dance, contributing to understanding about Japanese culture among a wide audience. She also promoted exchange between Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans by inviting Japanese high school students and college-age Japan Club members to the annual mochi-pounding festival held at Tanaka Farms in Irvine, which draws about two thousand attendees each year.
In 1991, she founded NYLA USA Corp, a music school that has taught some 30,000 students to date. From 2000 to 2004, she served as a board member of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County Japanese Chapter, where she organized fundraising concerts to provide opportunities for local children and students to experience orchestral performances, furthering music education outreach. Between 2012 and 2013, she also planned and supported charity concerts to raise funds for a care facility providing mental health support to children orphaned by the Great East Japan Earthquake, promoting Japan-U.S. friendship through music.
From 2004 to 2010, she served as Vice President of the Senior Foundation Charitable Corporation, supporting Japanese American seniors, working with other Japanese women to engage in grassroots efforts such as coin donation campaigns as well as gala events, with proceeds benefiting Keiro Home, what is now the Sakura Gardens senior home. Ms. Fujita also served as President of the Japanese Executive Women's League from 2004 to 2006, working to support local Japanese women entrepreneurs.
Ms. Fujita continues to play an active role in the Japanese American community, tirelessly working to strengthen the ties between Japanese nationals living in the U.S. and the local Japanese American community.
Celebration of Life
Janurary 2025
It is always sad and overwhelming when we lose a family member. In 2024, we lost two of our Nanka Ehime Kenjinkai Board Members: Mrs. May Kikuchi in November and Donna Kikuchi Hernandez in October.
I want to say “THANK YOU VERY MUCH” for all their contributions and dedication while they served on the Ehime Kenjinkai Board. They were truly our rock in our organization. Doumo otsukaresamadeshita.
The entire Nanka Ehime Kenjinkai and I extend our deepest sympathy to their dearest families and relatives.
Rest in peace in their new happy place where they are reunited with their family members once again. I know they are celebrating now.
Sincerely,
Kihei Otani
President
Nanka Ehime Kenjinkai
The late George Sasaki (past Ehime Kenjinkai president) and the late Hiroshi Uyeda went to high school together in Yawatahama. They became life-long friends in Los Angeles. Call it Fate, written by Keiko Moriyama, is a story about how their adult children, plus a close cousin, met for the first time through a series of events and reconnected their lives into one. In Japanese, there’s a term "御縁" (ごえん or goen) that can be translated to mean "divine connection" or "auspicious encounter." It's often used to describe a fateful or fortunate meeting between people and is commonly associated with the idea that certain encounters are guided by fate or destiny. Read her essay here.
Here’s the direct link to the essay