Karl Nobuyuki Dies

Sansei held national executive director title from 1977-80.

By George Toshio Johnston, Senior Editor

Karl Katsu Nobuyuki, a Sansei who served on Japanese American Citizens League staff with the title national executive director in the late 1970s, died Oct. 5, 2024 in Concord, Calif. He was 79.

The youngest of four Nobuyuki children, with twin brothers Kenneth and Kevin, and sister, Karen, preceding him in birth order, Karl Nobuyuki was the last surviving sibling. He was born May 20, 1945 at the Gila River War Relocation Authority Center where his family and he were incarcerated as during World War II as a result of President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.

After camp, from kindergarten through eighth grade, Nobuyuki attended Maryknoll School near Little Tokyo. Classmates Kyoko Nancy Oda and J.D. Hokoyama, shared with Pacific Citizen their recollections of Nobuyuki. “We rode the same bus every day, and we picked him and his brothers up and got to school,” said Oda, who also recalled that he “he loved speech and debate at my early age” and had won many awards in that area. She also noted that Nobuyuki had earned a yodan in kendo.

Hokoyama, who served as JACL’s associate national director (and later, acting national director) during Nobuyuki’s tenure as national executive director — prior to Hokoyama’s founding and serving as president and CEO for Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) — recalled how Nobuyuki, despite his small stature, played center on the football team of Bishop Mora Salesian High School, where he was also student body president.

“He would get beat up in every game. Most teams put in the biggest guy they have in the center position,” Hokoyama said, “but he was tough. He was really tough.”

To longtime JACL members, Nobuyuki’s name is probably best known because of his tenure as the organization’s national executive director from May 1977 until the summer of 1980. Ron Ikejiri, who served as JACL’s Washington representative from 1978-84, noted that this was a period of “transition of leadership from the Nisei to the Sansei, and the Nisei were not ready to pass the torch to the Sansei.”

“Karl represented the energy and momentum of the 1970s Sansei in the movement to right the constitutional and emotional wrongs because of Executive Order 9066,” Ikejiri added.

Nobuyuki’s younger son, Bryan Nobuyuki, told the Pacific Citizen he remembered when he was a boy and his father was working to advance JACL’s Redress-related work and how he later gained a better appreciation of the historic significance his father’s leadership and contributions to the Japanese American community.

Bryan also remembers talking with his father about what it meant to be an American of Japanese ancestry. “We occasionally talked about assimilation. He always found an importance to be American but with a greater importance of fusing, if you will, your Japanese side. Merging it in such a way that other cultures would adopt or even embrace the best of these Japanese ways. Whether it’s food, music, fashion, etc., you’re going beyond keeping your roots, you’re sharing them.”

After graduating from University of Southern California in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication and rhetoric and prior to joining JACL, Karl Nobuyuki was involved with Asian American Drug Abuse Program in its early years, having co-founded a self-help drug abuse program, Go for Broke Inc., in East Los Angeles. Later, he was the youth director for the city of Gardena’s Municipal Activities Center. Also for the Gardena, he served as its community resources administrator and public information officer.

The pages of Pacific Citizen record a fractious end to Nobuyuki’s turn as JACL’s top staffer. Months after JACL produced a March 22, 1980 fundraising event titled “An American Testimonial,” a dinner honoring the five Japanese American Congress members then in office — Sens. Hayakawa (R–Calif.), Daniel Inouye (D–Hawaii) and Spark Matsunaga (D–Hawaii), and Reps. Matsui (D–Calif.) and Mineta (D–Calif.) — the May 30, 1980 issue reported that Nobuyuki had tendered his resignation, effective June 1, with then-National President Clifford Uyeda citing “irreconcilable views on management policies” as the reason, and that the parting was by “mutual agreement.”

The June 6, 1980, Pacific Citizen, however, quoted Nobuyuki as saying, “They (JACL) will have to come after my resignation,” disputing that he was in fact resigning. By the June 20, 1980 issue, however, the P.C. reported a “joint statement” signed June 12 to “clarify the current situation involving Nobuyuki’s resignation and to dispel any rumors and confusion.” In order to deal with unfinished JACL business, Nobuyuki stayed on until July 15, 1980, according the report. Finally, in his July 18, 1980 column, he wrote, “I have no ill feelings of JACL but rather a sense of pride that the organization was able to move forward.”

Post-JACL, Nobuyuki not only continued to write a column for a time for Pacific Citizen, he was active with the San Fernando Valley Japanese Community Center and held several positions as an employee of the County of Los Angeles, retiring as a disaster services specialist with the county fire department and the county itself.

Nobuyuki was predeceased by his second wife, Sandra, and is survived by his sons Craig (Stacy) and Bryan, his first wife, Hiromi, and many other relatives. A celebration of life is planned for Feb. 22; capacity is limited. Email inquiries to nobunorthsouth@gmail.com. Condolences can be sent to the Nobuyuki family at 4425C Treat Blvd. #122, Concord, CA 94521. In lieu of koden, donations to JACL or AADAP are requested.

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Karl Nobuyuki: A Leader and a Line Man

(Editor’s note: The following appreciation for Karl Nobuyuki  was written by Ronald Ikejiri, who served as JACL Washington representative from 1978-84.)

Karl represents the energy and momentum of the 1970s Sansei in the movement to right the constitutional and emotional wrongs because of Executive Order 9066. As the Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizens League, Karl provided leadership in a way that is often not recognized.

In May of 1978, Karl came to Los Angeles to interview me for the position of the JACL Washington representative position. One of the key issues we discussed in that first meeting was the congressional approach to the Redress legislation. Karl believed that at the JACL Convention in Salt Lake City in June of 1978 that there would be consensus in moving forward with some form of Redress petition to the United States government in Washington, D.C.

Karl promised me that if I accepted the position, that he would block and open holes in the obstacles that would face a national legislative effort. He told me, to “consider me a line man, opening a hole in the scrimmage line so that we can help the Nikkei members of Congress score legislative touchdowns”.

Karl was the national executive director of the JACL during a time of transition of leadership from the Nisei to the Sansei, and the Nisei were not ready to pass the torch to the Sansei.

Nonetheless, Karl in his “out of the box,” creative way of presenting solutions was able to secure the support of the JACL National Board leadership, with Dr. Clifford Uyeda as the president, the Redress Director John Tateishi; and regional staff Bill Yoshino (from Chicago); John Saito (from Los Angeles); George Kondo (from San Francisco); and active JACL leaders from New York to Seattle.

After I accepted the appointment as the Washington representative, Karl opened doors quickly for me in July of 1978, and we paid courtesy calls to Congressman Mineta and Sens. Inouye and Matsunaga’s office, and of course Mike Masaoka, the former Washington representative during World War II, and the most influential nonelected Japanese American in America at the time in Washington, D.C. Separately, I met with Sen. Hayakawa and Bob Matsui, who was not a member of Congress in July 1978.

As additional support and “blockers,” Karl also created a JACL Washington Office advisory board with Cherry Tsutsumida, HHS administrator; K. Patrick Okura, National Institutes of Health; Lily Okura, Corp. for Public Broadcasting; Kaz Oshiki, chief of staff for Congressman Kastenmier; and Harry Takagi, former interim Washington representative.

In addition, I had the benefit of an informal advisory group composed of established Washington “hands,” composed of Frank Sato, inspector general; Hideki Hamamoto, General Dynamics; David Nikaido, international U.S.-Japan lawyer; and Dr. Ray Murakami.

In 1979, the JACL Redress Committee requested that a meeting of the Nikkei members of Congress be held, and it was at this meeting that the first steps toward Redress began with the consensus to push for congressional legislation for the creation of a commission to study the wartime relocation and internment of Americans, and Americans of Japanese ancestry. Karl was at the meeting with President Clifford Uyeda and Redress Chair John Tateishi. At that time, no one knew the historical significance of that meeting.

While not widely accepted or received by most advocates of Redress, the presidential commission approach signed by President Carter, proved to be the pathway for the eventual passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Without the Commission’s report’s findings that a grave injustice was placed upon those effected by EO 9066, because of “racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a failure of political leadership,” would not have been established.

During the uproar and rejection of the initial commission approach, Karl took the hits and did his job as the line man so that little by little a consensus in support of the Commission was achieved in the Japanese American community.

It has been 46 years since my first meeting with Karl. Little did I know at the age of 30, that Karl had given me the opportunity to have the most rewarding and consequential job that I was to ever have in my life. Thank You, Karl for allowing me to join you on your remarkable life journey. Your efforts have made an endearing difference for all of us.