Kaz Maniwa, Chair 

Kaz has a private law practice in San Francisco's Japantown and is active in the community. He has been on the board of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California since 1983, and currently serves as its Chairman, a position he has held since 1994. Kaz is also Chairman of the Nihonmachi parking Corporation and is involved in various community groups related to Japan, such as the the San Francisco-Osaka Sister City Organization, the Japan Studies Scholarship Committee and JET Program.

Kaz has chaired the Board of Directors of the CJACLC since 2002.

Irene Hirano, Vice President

Irene is Executive Director and President of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, a position that she has held since 1988. Former positions include Executive Director of T.H.E. Clinic, Inc. in Los Angeles, a nonprofit multi-cultural community clinic providing medical, counseling and education services; consultant to the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare, Administration on Aging, Project Advocacy for the Elderly; and Associate Director of the Asian Women's Center.

Irene is a founding member of the CJACLC.

Bill Watanabe, Secretary 

Bill was born to Japanese immigrants at an American concentration camp called Manzanar. After a short stint as a mechanical engineer, Bill attended the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo for one year and then graduated from UCLA's Graduate School of Social Welfare in 1972. He was selected to be the Executive Director of the newly-formed Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) in 1980, and charged to develop a multi-purpose social service agency that could meet the broad needs of the Japanese American community that centered around the ethnic community of Little Tokyo.

Bill has fostered a number of efforts that have shaped the community and impacted the policy landscape for Los Angeles as past President of the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council, founder of the Asian Pacific Community Fund, co-founder of the Asian Pacific American Research Roundtable and of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, as well as a founding member of the CJACLC.

Laura Takeuchi, Treasurer 

Laura has been executive director of Japanese American Services of the East Bay (JASEB) since 1992. JASEB provides home and community based services for seniors and caregivers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Prior to this position she was the controller at Kimochi, Inc. She volunteers of the boards of Alameda County Meals on Wheels, Pacific Asian American Women's Bay Area Coalition (PAAWBAC), Kokoro, and the Northern California Japanese American Senior Centers.

Laura is a founding member of the CJACLC.

Chris Aihara

Chris has been an active leader in the Little Tokyo community in her many roles at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. She currently chairs the Little Tokyo Community Council's Planning and Cultural Preservation Committee.

The JACCC is a founding organization of the CJACLC, and Chris has been serving as its representative to the CJACLC Board since the beginning of 2001.

Wayne Doiguchi 

Wayne is President & CEO of Park Plaza Investment Company and is active in the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce of Silicon Valley.

Wayne is a founding member and past chairperson of the CJACLC.

Jerrold Hiura

Jerrold, or Jerry, practices general dentistry in San Jose's Japantown and is active in the community there. He currently serves as Board President of the Japantown Community Congress of San Jose. Jerry is a founding member of Contemporary Asian Theater Scene and chaired the Arts Council of Silicon Valley and the Arts Commission for the City of San Jose before being appointed to the California Arts Council by Governor Gray Davis in 2003.

Jerry joined the CJACLC in 2005.

Charles Igawa

Charles was born and raised in Japan, and came to the U.S. for college. He has been a lecturer at various universities, and holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Culture. He has been very active with the Long Beach Japanese Language School as the past President of the PTA and later its Board of Directors. He also served as president of the Harbor District Japanese Community Center.

Charles has been the President of the California Association of Japanese Language Schools (CAJLS), an organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of Japanese language and culture so as to preserve Japanese American culture and tradition, since 1996. He has been representing the CAJLS to the CJACLC Board since 2001.

Kenneth Inouye

Ken was born in Alamosa, Colorado but was raised in Los Angeles. He graduated from California State University as Los Angeles (CSULA) in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. Ken is a now Certified Public Accountant and is the managing partner of the Laguna Hills CPA firm: Inouye, Shively & Longtin.

Ken has been involved with numerous community groups and currently serves on the Orange County Human Relations Commission, the California Association of Human Relations Organizations, the Huntington Beach Human Relations Task Force, National President for the Japanese American Citizens League and serves on the board of the Southern California Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (partial list). Ken joined the CJACLC Board in 2005.

Glenn Kawafuchi

Glenn is the Vice President of Leadership at the Los Angeles-based Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics. He joined the CJACLC Board in 2001.

John Kawamoto

John is a partner at Petrinovich Pugh & Company. He serves as the president of the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce of Silicon Valley.

Kenyon Mayeda

Kenyon is in his third year at the University of San Francisco. As part of the Nikkei Community Internship program in 2004, he interned at the Japanese American National Museum. He currently works part time at the Japanese Community Youth Council while going to school.

Steve Nakajo

Steve is the Executive Director of Kimochi, Inc., a senior service organization which he co-founded in 1971 to bring main-stream social services to non-English speaking seniors of San Francisco's Japantown. Steve was also one of the original co-organizer of San Francisco's Nihonmachi Street Fair and Oshogatsu Festival, and has been active with the Cherry Blossom Festival since 1970.

Steve is a past Vice President of the San Francisco Art Commission, the immediate past President of the San Francisco Fire Commission and the current Vice-President of the San Francisco Fire Commission. He is a lecturer in the San Francisco State University, School of Social Work, Master of Social Work Graduate Program.   He is the current President of the Nihonmachi Parking Corporation Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of the Northern California Senior Centers. Steve is a founding member of the CJACLC.

Alan Nishio

Alan serves as the Associate Vice President for Student Services at California State University, Long Beach and is also a faculty member in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies. Prior to his tenure at CSULB, Alan served as a founding staff member and Director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA and has a long history of involvement in efforts directed toward increasing the access and retention of low-income and underrepresented students in higher education, and has served as a Trustee and Officer of The College Board.   

Jon Osaki

Jon is the Executive Director of the Japanese Community Youth Council in San Francisco.

Jon is a founding member of the CJACLC.

Paul Osaki

Paul is the Executive Director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California.

Paul is a founding member of the CJACLC.

Curtiss Takada Rooks

Curtiss currently teaches Asian American Studies at California State University, San Jose. He has been representing the Hapa Issues Forum to the CJACLC since 2002.

Miko Sawamura

Miko Sawamura is a member and past president of the Sacramento Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. She also serves on the Board of the JACL's Northern California Western Nevada Pacific District.

Miko is a founding member of the CJACLC.

Grace Shiba

Grace is Director of Asian Pacific Alumni Programs at the University of Southern California. She also serves as Senior Vice President of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California.

Grace joined the CJACLC Board at the beginning of 2005.

Kristy Shimosaka

While a college student at UC Berkeley, Kristy was one of the founding members of the Nikkei Student Union on campus. In 2001, Kristy chaired a national Japanese American youth conference called Spectrum which allowed young JAs from across the nation to come together, discuss contemporary community issues and establish connections.  For the past five years she has worked at the Japanese Community Youth Council with elementary, middle school, and high school youth in various programs.  Kristy is currently in her final semester of law school at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Bryan Takeda  

Bryan is the President and owner of Affinity Associates/Happicoats.com, a graphics, promotions and advertising company that specializes in unique Japanese promotional products located in Pasadena. He began his community work as a youth basketball coach and became involved in the leadership of the Pasadena Japanese Cultural Institute (PJCI), where he had attended Japanese School and practiced Kendo as a youth. He was a member of the U.S. Kendo Team at the 1976 World Kendo Championships in London England and eventually earned yondan (4th degree black belt) at the PJCI Kendo Dojo.

Bryan was a founder of the Nikkei Federation in 1995. Currently the President of the Federation, he has served the community in many capacities, including as an organizer of the Building Community through Leadership Program (2002) and in the creati o n of the Rising Stars Youth Leadership Program (2003) for high school students. He has served on the CJACLC board since 2001.

John Tateishi, inactive

John is the Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). The National JACL is a founding member of the CJACLC.

Megumi Tomatsu

Megumi is currently studying Sociology, Asian American Studies, and Education at UCLA where she serves as president of the Nikkei Student Union. She is also a member of the UCLA Kyodo Taiko team. In the past, she has participated in the CJACLC's Nikkei Community Internship program and has interned at the Little Tokyo Service Center.

Megumi represents the Intercollegiate Nikkei Council (INC), a coalition of southern California, Nikkei collegiate organizations. Together, these student run groups provide a voice for Japanese American youth and opportunities for young adults to participate in the greater Japanese American community. INC organizes several programs, which include social events such as picnics and dances, volunteering at the annual Little Tokyo Children's Day, and coordinating the ReVISIONS Nikkei Youth Conference.