Kenji G. Taguma, President
Award-winning journalist Kenji G. Taguma, a native of Sacramento, Calif., has served as the English section editor of the Nichi Bei Times — Northern California’s oldest Japanese American newspaper — since September of 1995. Prior to his work at the Nichi Bei Times, Kenji was the Community Information Officer at the Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission of the City and County of Sacramento.

In June of 2004, he was named vice president of the Nichi Bei Times, and in January of 2006 he led the launching of the all-English Nichi Bei Times Weekly, a new and dynamic publication geared toward younger and succeeding generations of Japanese Americans.

While at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), Kenji also published his own Asian Pacific American newspaper, the AsiAmerican Journal. He also organized numerous forums dealing with issues such as hate crimes, affirmative action, an anti-immigrant ballot initiative and ethnic studies, as well as two Asian Pacific American Heritage Weeks.
In October of 1998, Kenji received the distinguished Alumni Honors Award from CSUS — a mere four years after graduating from the institution.

In 1999 Kenji received the Community Service Award from New California Media for an article that documented the struggle for redress by Japanese American railroad and mine worker families, whose family heads were fired from their jobs during World War II at the hands of the U.S. government. Less than two months after the story ran, the victims were granted redress from the U.S. government.

While working to renovate the English section of the Nichi Bei Times, the newspaper was presented the first-ever Pioneer Award from New California Media, a coalition of now more than 2,000 ethnic news organizations and supporters throughout the country.

Kenji was also recognized with an award at the 2004 annual dinner of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California for his work as a community journalist.

In 2004, Kenji helped to lead a team of Nichi Bei Times staff members who put together a joint Japanese-English series dealing with the issue of whether or not Japanese Americans had a responsibility to serve as a bridge between U.S.-Japan relations, as well as dealing with the issue of cross-cultural communications between English-speaking and Japanese-speaking members of the community. That series won the 2005 Grand Prize Award from the Overseas Japanese Press Association in Tokyo, Japan.

He has appeared on several panels and radio and TV broadcasts speaking on issues covered in the community press and the importance of the medium, particularly its role in educating and empowering the community.

Paul Osaki, CFO
Paul Osaki is the executive director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. He is a founding member of the California Japanese American Community Leadership Council. After the Great Hanshin Earthquake near Kobe in 1995, Paul helped to organize the collection of relief supplies to that battered city. The JCCCNC raised more than $600,000 in direct relief funds for quake victims, and more than 1.5 tons of relief goods were sent to Japan. He also envisioned a youth exchange program shortly thereafter to engage youth from both countries through the medium of basketball.

Keith Kamisugi, Secretary
Keith Kamisugi (KeithPR.com) is the director of communications at the Equal Justice Society. He was previously a regional spokesman for Verizon Communications, an account manager for technology PR agency Niehaus Ryan Wong and serviced a diverse portfolio of companies as an independent consultant. He also served on the executive staffs of Hawai’i Governors John Waihee and Benjamin Cayetano. He is a director on the boards of Chinese for Affirmative Action, San Francisco Japantown Foundation, APA for Progress, Asian Law Caucus and Chinatown Community Development Center; and on the Netroots Nation advisory board. He has co-written a popular Nichi Bei Times column, “Two Japanee Bruddahs,” for several years

Grace Horikiri
Grace Horikiri is the design director at NDD Creative, a communication and graphic design firm in San Francisco. NDD Creative was commissioned by the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California to create the concept and direct the overall implementation of the San Francisco Japantown History Walk, a 10 city block self-guided tour that includes 17 permanent interpretive signs highlighting points of historical and cultural significance of the Japanese American community in the Western Addition. Grace also serves as the executive director and president of the Nihonmachi Street Fair, Inc. (NSF). For the past 36 years, the NSF has presented an annual 2-day community celebration in San Francisco’s Japantown. A true community event, the NSF brings together the Asian/Pacific nonprofit organizations that provide valuable services to our communities, highlighting talented musical and Asian artisans and encourages the volunteer spirit that is the heart of the organization

Fred Kochi
The former vice president of advertising at the San Jose Mercury News, Fred Kochi entered San Jose State University as a music major but changed his major to business administration management after being a student teacher at James Lick High School in San Jose. Prior to working at the San Jose Mercury News, he played music professionally with Ernie Hecksher at the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel Venetian Room and Circle Star Theatre House Band in San Carlos. Fred worked at the Mercury News for more than 32 years in various capacities such as classified advertising, general advertising, ad manager, general manager and vice president. Currently retired with a buy-out and serving in various nonprofit organizations, including as president the Gold Hill-Wakamatsu Project, an effort to preserve the first settlement of Japanese in America; and vice president of the National Japanese American Historical Society.

Wayne Maeda
Wayne Maeda is a senior lecturer in the Department of Ethnic Studies, California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). He is one of the founding members of the Asian American Studies Program and Ethnic Studies Department. He taught the first Asian American course in 1970. He continues to teach at CSUS, Sacramento City College, and periodically at UC Davis as a Senior Lecturer in Asian American Studies. Wayne recently completed a book that provides a regional overview of the Japanese American communities (Vacaville, Walnut Grove, Loomis, Penryn, Auburn, Florin, and Sacramento) from the 1860s to 1980s, “Changing Dreams, Treasured Memories: A Story of Japanese Americans in the Sacramento Region.” He is also the co-editor of “Ethnic America: Readings in Race, Class, and Gender.” A former board member of the National Japanese American Historical Society, Wayne currently sits on the board of the Gold Hill-Wakamatsu Project, an organization dedicated to preserving the first settlement of Japanese immigrants in America. He has been a contributing writer for the Nichi Bei Times since 1995.

Keith Nagayama
Keith Nagayama has been a practicing attorney for six years. He represents nonprofit organizations and government entities in the areas of real estate, finance, tax and corporate transactions. Keith has advised several nonprofit organizations regarding corporate governance. He received a B.A. from UCLA in political science and economics and a JD from UC Hastings. Prior to joining Meyers Nave, Keith worked with the Public Law Center in Santa Ana, Calif., where he co-managed affordable housing advocacy, devised community economic development strategies and advised nonprofit organizations on business, tax and charitable fundraising laws. While in law school, Keith was the Senior Articles Editor for Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly.

Tim Yamamura
Tim Yamamura is a playwright, non-fiction writer, and scholar currently working on his Ph.D. in the Literature Department at UC Santa Cruz. He is a former staff writer for the Nichi Bei Times. He holds masters degrees in both Professional Writing and East Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Southern California. His research and creative interests include Asian American, in particular early Japanese American, history and culture, representations of the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as formulations of Asia/Pacific/American regional life.

Lisa Yokota
A marketing professional with 18 years experience implementing multimillion dollar marketing and sales promotion strategies, Lisa Yokota has a proven track record in broadcast marketing, public relations, events and promotions for targeted communities…specifically the Asian market.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, but a graduate of Boston University, Lisa has slowly worked her way back west from Boston to California, working first in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at WISN-TV as a news producer, and then in the San Francisco/Bay Area for KTVU-TV (FOX) as a sales promotion director. She subsequently worked for two years as a promotions specialist at Yahoo! during the height of the dot-com era but then returned to television when she joined KTSF-TV in San Francisco as their director of marketing, the position she holds today.

As the marketing director at KTSF, Lisa develops and leads the implementation of streamlined promotional strategies on air, in print and online for both the station and in tandem with corporate advertisers such as Pepsi, Volvo and Verizon Wireless. She is also a board member and treasurer of the Asian American Advertising Federation, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to growing the Asian advertising and marketing industry.

Past board members

Kerwin Berk
Kerwin Berk is a professional journalist who has worked for newspapers and news services for almost 20 years, writing/editing stories that range from the sex trade in Southeast Asia to 9/11 terrorist attacks to the BALCO drug scandal. Kerwin has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from Boston University. Most recently the assistant sports editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. He has been a contributing writer and columnist for the Nichi Bei Times.