Gikaku Steere Noda ( 1892 – March 29, 1986) was a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, and

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

in the

State of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

Early life

Noda was born in 1892 at the

Ewa Ewa or EWA may refer to: Places ; Ethiopia * Ewa (woreda) ; Nauru * Ewa District, Nauru ; United States * Eastern Washington, the portion of the state of Washington east of the Cascade Range * ʻEwa Beach, Hawaii, a census-designated place * E ...

plantation to Esaki and Suma Noda, immigrants from

Kumamoto, Japan is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

. In 1905, six years after

Takie Okumura Takie Okumura (May 12, 1865 – February 10, 1951) was a Christian minister from Japan. He was the founder of the Makiki Christian Church in Honolulu, Hawaii, the "Okumura Boys and Girls Home", and some of Hawaii's first Japanese language schools. ...

started the first Japanese baseball team in Hawaii in 1899, Noda founded the Asahi Nisei Baseball Team. The team would later grow to become the Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJA) baseball league. At 13 years old, he was the first baseman, captain, and general manager for the team. He graduated from

Mid-Pacific Institute Mid-Pacific Institute is a private, co-educational college preparatory school for grades preschool through twelve with an approximate enrollment of 1,538 students, the majority of whom are from Hawaii (although many also come from other states and ...

and Hawaii High School (a

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

school) in 1911. He married Alice Sae Teshima in 1912. He served in the

Hawaii National Guard The Hawaii National Guard consists of the Hawaii Army National Guard and the Hawaii Air National Guard. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. Those functions range f ...

from 1916 to 1917.

Career

In 1912, Noda started working for the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

, making him the first

nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...

to work in Hawaii's federal government. He later became the first nisei to work in Hawaii's judicial system when he obtained a position as a clerk for the Honolulu District Court in 1916. In 1924, he was licensed as an

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

. During his time as an attorney Noda also worked as a sports promoter for amateur and professional athletes from the mainland

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Noda served as member of Territorial House of Representatives from 1948 to 1958 and was a delegate to the 1950 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention. His time in the House of Representatives ended when he entered the

Hawaii State Senate The Hawaii Senate is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President of the Senate, elected from the member ...

in 1959. During his time in office he focused on helping the

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

, and helped to end the 1949 dock strike. Throughout his life Noda did community service for the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

and the

Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce The Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce is a business organization that promotes economic growth in Hawaii and Japan. History After the Chinatown fire of 1900, 37 Japanese businessmen formed the Emergency Japanese Association to help Jap ...

, and started the Honolulu chapter of the JACL. Noda died on March 19, 1986.

Honors

In 1967 Noda received the La Croix De Chevalier Avec Ruban from the International Amateur Wrestling Foundation. He earned the Fifth Class

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

by the Japanese government in 1968. It was awarded to him for his role in promoting goodwill and friendship between Japan and the United States. In 1970, he was given the National Award by the US Amateur Wrestling Foundation.

References

External links

Steere Gikaku Noda archival collection finding aid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noda, Gikaku 1892 births 1986 deaths American baseball players of Japanese descent Hawaii politicians of Japanese descent Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 5th class