A dentist who spent a good part of his life preserving Japanese American history and who was among the first to be incarcerated during World War II has died (Photo by Joe Mabel)
Frank Katamoto died at the age of 74 on Saturday, reports the Bainbridge Island Review.
“He was kind of a giant to me,” said Clarence Moriwaki, President of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association. “He had been an outspoken champion of human rights. He was my mentor and friend.”
Kitamoto was just 2 when he was incarcerated, but the memory of that horrific time stuck in his mind.
Kitamoto started an oral history project in 1983 with Ron Nakata and John Sakai and made carrying on the legacy of Bainbridge Island and its role in the history of the incarceration.
You can read more about Kitamoto’s legacy in the Bainbridge Island Review.