Japan Honors Hoshizaki With Order of Rising Sun

Japan's consul general presented the Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays, to 101-year-old botanist Dr. Takashi Hoshizaki in Los Angeles.

Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Awards

Japan Honors Hoshizaki With Order of Rising Sun

Japan's consul general in Los Angeles, Kosei Murota, presented Dr. Takashi Hoshizaki with the Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays, at a ceremony held October 23 at the Japanese American National Museum's Democracy Center in Little Tokyo. Hoshizaki, 101, is a botanist and expert in circadian rhythms who spent his career at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Why it matters

The award recognizes Hoshizaki's multiple contributions to science and U.S.-Japan relations. His story also connects to the history of Japanese American incarceration and draft resistance at the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming.

Hoshizaki is 101 years old and was one of 85 Nisei men who resisted the military draft while incarcerated at Heart Mountain, which held some 14,000 Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945. He was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to two years in federal prison before a 1947 presidential pardon.

The players

Takashi Hoshizaki

A 101-year-old botanist and circadian rhythm expert who spent his career at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and served on the board of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.

Kosei Murota

Japan's consul general in Los Angeles, who presented the award on behalf of the Japanese government.

Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation

A nonprofit organization that preserves the history of the Heart Mountain camp, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.

The details

Hoshizaki was among 85 Nisei men who refused the military draft while incarcerated at Heart Mountain and was convicted of draft evasion. President Harry Truman pardoned him and the others on December 24, 1947, and he later served in the military during the Korean War.

December 24, 1947: President Harry Truman pardons Hoshizaki and other draft resisters.
October 23, 2026: Japan's consul general presents the Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays.

Culture Shift

Hoshizaki's recognition arrives decades after the Heart Mountain draft resisters were prosecuted, when the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans has been increasingly reexamined in public memory. The award reflects a shift toward honoring Nisei figures whose Heart Mountain dissent was once controversial within their own community.

For Los Angeles residents, the ceremony took place in Little Tokyo at the Japanese American National Museum, offering a public opportunity to learn about the Japanese American wartime experience. The event highlights local institutions that preserve this history and keep it accessible.

The takeaway

Hoshizaki's story shows how a wartime conviction can later be reconsidered and how individual legacies in science and civic life can be recognized decades afterward. Readers interested in this history can seek out local museum programming on Japanese American incarceration.