Tom Ikeda

Tom Ikeda is Founding Executive Director of Densho and has conducted more than 200 video-recorded oral history interviews with Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. He also created classroom curriculum from these materials and helped design Densho’s award-winning website. Before founding Densho, Mr. Ikeda was a General Manager at Microsoft in the Multimedia Publishing Group. He has received numerous awards for his contributions in the humanities, education, and nonprofit sectors, including the Humanities Washington Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Public Humanities, the National JACL Japanese American of the Biennium Award for Education, and the Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellows Award.

Updated November 2013

war en

Khizr Khan’s words echo for Japanese American World War II Gold Star families

By Tom Ikeda
10 Aug 2016

I could feel myself getting choked up as I watched Khizr and Ghazala Khan address the Democratic National Convention last week. And when Mr. Khan—a distinguished man of the Muslim faith—described how his U.S. Army Captain son sacrificed his life to save his men and how his son represented “the best of America,” the tears started streaming down my cheeks.

What I was thinking at that moment was how Mr. Khan was giving voice to what my grandparents might have thought and said 72 years ago while being handed the American flag for the death of their ...

community en

Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, Dignity

Japanese Americans in Seattle

By Tom Ikeda
25 Nov 2013

I’ve been asked to talk about the history of Seattle’s Japanese American community. And because Densho has 750 oral history interviews and thousands of historic photographs, I thought it would be easy to pick out a few stories to share with you today. But the more I thought about the task, the more overwhelmed I became over the many choices.

For example, I could talk about the Issei pioneers who came to Seattle in the 1880s and who worked in the lumber mills, salmon canneries, and railroads.

Or I could talk about how Japanese farmers dominated truck farming ...

Submit an article

Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Tom Ikeda

Khizr Khan’s words echo for Japanese American World War II Gold Star families

Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, Dignity

Japanese Americans in Seattle

Series this author contributes to

Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, Dignity

Featured Articles

Cultural Merging and Identity: A Fourth-Generation Okinawan Japanese Peruvian American Speaks Out

Nikkei Chronicles #8 — Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

The Great-Grandmother Damashii

Remembering the Manzanar Riot

Nikkei Chronicles #1 — ITADAKIMASU! A Taste of Nikkei Culture

Itadakimasu! Our Grandparents' Legacy

Recent Articles en

A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Takeshi (Tak) Matsuba

Part 5: Career in the Private Sector - Amerex & Sogo Department Store

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #100's of Activities: "Gad, I'm Bored..."

Silk

Chapter Six—Okei: Star Stories

The Nisei Women Who Fought—And Won—An Early Redress Battle In Seattle

An Important Anniversary

Recent Articles JA ES PT

1999年渡米、映画監督・プロデューサー・女優・フリーアナウンサーの曽原三友紀さん

The Nikkei of Latin America and Latino Nikkei

二世代目以降の「県人会」と今後の架け橋としての役割

Mitsuo Akachi: un inmigrante que se arraigó fuertemente en Los Mochis, Sinaloa

孤独な望郷 ～ フロリダ日系移民森上助次の手紙から

第29回 姪の渡米計画に心躍る

青年海外協力隊員から陶彫作家、モジお茶屋敷へ — その２

Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

Get updates

Support this project

A project of the

Major support by

A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Takeshi (Tak) Matsuba

Part 5: Career in the Private Sector - Amerex & Sogo Department Store

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #100's of Activities: "Gad, I'm Bored..."

Silk

Chapter Six—Okei: Star Stories

The Nisei Women Who Fought—And Won—An Early Redress Battle In Seattle

An Important Anniversary

A Compelling Voice & Thoughtful Storyteller Actor & Filmmaker, Lane Nishikawa

Where to Bury Me

A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Takeshi (Tak) Matsuba

Part 4: Employment with the US Occupation Forces

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #75 Burgers per Second: "I Predict..."

Nishimura Sisters: Before, During, and After Tashme - Part 2

Nishimura Sisters: Before, During, and After Tashme - Part 1

My Name is Neal

Journal Enty #$4.00 for a Big Mac: "Hell, I Still Eat it..."

Some Recollections & Thoughts about Uncle Tachi - Part 1

Way Down in Egypt Land: Tamio Wakayama, Civil Rights Photographer - Part 2

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #4 of Many: "I am Anti-Inspirational..."

‘Working With Communities And The People’: A Conversation With Yonsei Pastor Karen Yokota Love

Long-time Gone: Toronto’s J-Town - Part 3

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #B-9 is Circa 1997: "The Future has Passed..."

Tessaku

Shizuko Yamauchi - Part 1

Uncle Hiro: Gaman, Enduring in Adversity

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #At Least Since 1968: "Name Dropping..."

Silk

Chapter Four—Kintaro and the Magic Koi

Yoemon Shinmasu – My Grandfather's Life in Seattle

Part 10 – Unfortunate death and sorrowful return home

Hung Wai Ching: The Founding of the Varsity Victory Volunteers and relations between Chinese and Japanese Americans

A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Takeshi (Tak) Matsuba

Part 2: Life in the Lemon Creek Internment Camp

Way Down in Egypt Land: Tamio Wakayama, Civil Rights Photographer - Part 1

Sporting Niseis of 1930s Posing on Camera - Part 2

The Chicago Shoyu Story—Shinsaku Nagano and the Japanese Entrepreneurs - Part 3

Yoemon Shinmasu – My Grandfather's Life in Seattle

Part 9 – The Japanese Association and Yoemon’s final days

孤独な望郷～フロリダ日系移民森上助次の手紙から

第29回姪の渡米計画に心躍る