In the months after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, all of USC’s Japanese-American students—known as Nisei—were forced to leave the university and enter internment camps. Now, in the spirit of reconciliation, USC is attempting to identify all of its WWII-era Nisei students, so the university may confer posthumous honorary degrees upon them—and present these degrees to their families.
University leaders are currently reviewing digitized images of handwritten records, photos and correspondence to identify an estimated 121 students. It is a painstaking process, one that is greatly aided by the USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association, which is reaching out to the families of USC’s Nisei students. We are making headway, but we also need your help.
What happened to our Nisei students was a grave injustice. With your assistance, we can accord them the respect and dignity they deserve.
A list of Nisei students we believe attended USC in 1942. Please email us if you have any information about their family members. Check back regularly for updates.
As of December 15, 2021
Hayao Abe
Steven Abe
Gladys Aoki
George Fujii
Joe Fujikawa
Nobuko Fujiki
Yasushi Hara
Harry Higa
Yutaka Inadomi
Tomoo Inouye
Yorisada Kagawa
Herb Kawahara
Edward Koyama
William Kuratani
Yeiki Matsui
Daisuke Dike Nagano
Kazuo Nomura
George Nonoshita
Cherry Obayashi
Jim Okura
Jiro Sagata
James Sakamoto
John Sakamoto
Fred Suto
Naoshi Suzuki
Lucy Taguchi
Ken Uyesugi
Chiyoko Yamaguchi
Eiji Yamamoto
George Yokoyama
Nisei Students – Class of 2022
Frank Fujio Chuman Story
Henry Ema
Ryuchi Fujii
John Masao Fujioka
Floyd Kaoru Fujiu
Kiyoshi Fujiwara
Harry Fukayama
Toshio Furukawa
George John (Ryoichi) Furutani
Toru Thomas Haga
Kameko Hatanaka
Kei Hori
Yoshiharu Inadomi
Victor Nobuyuki Ito
Shigeru Kanemaki
Sidney Isao Kashiwabara
Wayne Masato Kato
Nelson Yuji Kitsuse
Henry Kondo
Alice Yemiko Kurata
Theodore Tatsuya Matsushima
Raymond Kanameimura
Fred Fukuki Nishi
George Teruo Nishida
Tadashi Ochiai Story
Jiro Oishi
Masao Oki
Kenneth Shoichi Ozaki
James Shigeo Sasaki
Midori Sato
Kunihiko Seki
Tomio Sugano
Francis Sueo Sugiyama
Ichiro Takahashi
George Tanbara
Roy Hideo Yamamoto
Yoneo Yamamoto
Isami Sam Yamashita
Nisei Students – Class of 2012
Yuriko Hirooka Kumai
Iwao George Kawakami Story
Yoshiteru Gary Kikawa
Yutaka Kody Kodama
Roland Yoshiharu Kamachi
George Mio
Ryo Munekata
Setsuko Matsunaka Nishi
Hitoshi George Sameshima
Satsuyo Watanabe Tanaka
Frank Takashi Tofukuji
This is a partial list. Please check back regularly for updates.