is an American businessman and civil rights activist who was CEO of the

Uwajimaya Uwajimaya, Inc., doing business as , is a family-owned supermarket chain with its corporate headquarters in the International District, Seattle, Washington, and with locations in Greater Seattle and Oregon. Uwajimaya sells mainly Asian food� ...

supermarket chain in Seattle, Washington, from 1965 to 2007.

Biography

Moriguchi was born in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, to Fujimatsu Moriguchi and Sadako Tsutakawa. He is the nephew of

George Tsutakawa George Tsutakawa (, February 22, 1910 – December 18, 1997) was an American painter and sculptor best known for his avant-garde bronze fountain designs. Born in Seattle, Washington, he was raised in both the United States and Japan. He att ...

. During World War II, following the signing of

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...

, his family was interned at

Pinedale, California Pinedale is a community within the city of Fresno, California. Once a rural unincorporated community located on the Southern Pacific Railroad north-northwest of Clovis, Pinedale has since become surrounded and annexed by the city of Fresno. It ...

, and then at

Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The ele ...

. After the war, the family moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little ...

where Moriguchi's father re-established Uwajimaya on South Main Street. After graduating from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

with a degree in mechanical engineering, Moriguchi worked at

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

as an engineer, but left after his father's death to run Uwajimaya. He was CEO and president of Uwajimaya beginning in 1965. During his tenure, he moved Uwajimaya's base of operations several times, expanding the size of his business in various locations until moving to Uwajimaya Village in 2000. He was the president of the Seattle chapter of the

Japanese American Citizens League The is an Asian American civil rights charity, headquartered in San Francisco, with regional chapters across the United States. The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) describes itself as the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights ...

in 1972. He was also a member of the National Council for Japanese American Redress (NCJAR). Moriguchi, along with

Kristi Yamaguchi Kristine Tsuya Yamaguchi (born July 12, 1971) is an American former competitive figure skater, author and philanthropist. A former competitor in women's singles, Yamaguchi is the Figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics, 1992 Olympic champion, ...

, was honored by the JACL as a "Japanese American of the Biennium" in 1992. In 1994, the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the State of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, w ...

adopted a bill which honored Moriguchi. After stepping down as CEO of Uwajimaya in 2007, Moriguchi continued as chairman. On June 18, 2015, he visited

Ehime University is a List of national universities in Japan, Japanese national university in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The university has one of the largest student populations in the Shikoku, Shikoku region. After Japan's defeat in World War II, Ai ...

to discuss internship programs for students in the United States. He was named by

Puget Sound Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes ''The Business Journals'', which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States with each market ...

as one of the 35 most influential business leaders of Seattle for the past 35 years. Moriguchi retired from the management of the company in 2017. He continues to be involved in the company's real estate branch. His family received the 2017 Tomodachi Award for their contributions to the relations between Japan and Seattle. Although he did not own Nagomi Tea House, Moriguchi founded it on Uwajimaya's former business site. He accepted his position as president of Keiro Northwest, of which he was a co-founder, in 2018. He and his family were named as recipients of the 2020 Seattle-King County First Citizen Award. Moriguchi is the board president and treasurer of the Hokubei Hochi Foundation and president of the North American Post Publishing Company (and former publisher). His daughter Denise is president and CEO of Uwajimaya.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriguchi, Tomio 1936 births Living people 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American businesspeople American people of Japanese descent American mechanical engineers Boeing people Businesspeople from Seattle Engineers from Washington (state) American civil rights activists of Japanese descent Japanese-American internees People from Tacoma, Washington University of Washington College of Engineering alumni American retail chief executives

Biography

See also

References

External links