Happy Birthday, Takashi!
Since we launched the campaign, we’ve had BIG NEWS!! Click on the image to watch our short film for an exciting announcement!
This October, we celebrate a rare and remarkable milestone, Takashi Hoshizaki’s 100th birthday!
To honor Takashi’s extraordinary life, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is launching a campaign to raise $100,000 in his name. Every gift celebrates not only his birthday, but also his lifelong fight for justice and memory.
Join us in celebrating a century of courage and conviction. Let’s show Takashi how deeply his life has touched ours.
Don’t forget to leave him a birthday message!
Campaign closes on October 31st, 2025
About Takashi:
Takashi “Tak” Hoshizaki (b. October 3, 1925, Los Angeles) is the eldest of six children born to Japanese immigrant parents, Keijiro and Name Hoshizaki. His father initially worked in the family import business before opening the Fujiya grocery store in East Hollywood, a neighborhood known as J-Flats. Takashi grew up immersed in his community, participating in Boy Scouts, helping at the family store, and enjoying life with neighborhood friends.
During World War II, the Hoshizaki family was forcibly relocated first to the Pomona Assembly Center and then to Heart Mountain, Wyoming, where Takashi contributed to camp life by working in the mess hall and on irrigation projects. Despite these challenges, he completed his high school education, graduating with Heart Mountain’s first class.
In 1944, Takashi made a conscientious stand against the draft, joining the Fair Play Committee and ultimately becoming one of 63 draft resisters tried for refusing induction. He served three years at McNeil Island Federal Prison, where he recorded his reflections daily and gained insight from fellow inmates.
After his release in 1946, Takashi returned to Los Angeles, pursued higher education at Los Angeles City College and UCLA, earning a master’s degree and later a doctorate in plant biology, with service in the Korean War in between. In 1952, he married Barbara Joe, a Chinese American biology professor, and together they raised two children in Los Angeles until her passing in 2012.
Takashi’s life reflects a steadfast commitment to principle, education, and community, a legacy that continues to inspire.
Learn more about Takashi here in his Draft Resister File.
Takashi in front of his family home in Los Angeles, 1940.- Hoshizaki family at Heart Mountain, March 1944.
(Takashi is the tall one in the back) - Wedding of Takashi and Barbara Hoshizaki, 1952.
- Takashi Hoshizaki and a fellow Army medic at Fort Hood, Texas, 1954.
- Takashi Hoshizaki and his children, Jon and Carol, in their fern-filled back yard in Los Angeles. Takashi earned his PhD in Botanical Sciences from UCLA in 1961.
