is an American businessman and civil rights activist who served as CEO of the

Uwajimaya Uwajimaya, Inc., doing business as , is a family-owned supermarket chain with its corporate headquarters in the International District, Seattle, Washington, and with locations in Greater Seattle and Oregon. Uwajimaya sells mainly Asian food—w ...

supermarket chain in Seattle, Washington, from 1965 to 2007.

Biography

Moriguchi was born in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

, to Fujimatsu Moriguchi and Sadako Tsutakawa. He is the nephew of

George Tsutakawa George Tsutakawa (February 22, 1910 – December 18, 1997) was an American painter and sculptor best known for his avant-garde bronze fountain designs. Born in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, he was raised in both the United States ...

. During World War II, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, his family was interned at

Pinedale, California Pinedale is a previously unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It lies at an elevation of 348 feet (106 m). It was once a rural community located on the Southern Pacific Railroad north-northwest of Clovis but has since become s ...

, and then at

Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The eleva ...

. After the war, the family moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little ...

where Moriguchi's father re-established Uwajimaya on South Main Street. After graduating from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

with a degree in mechanical engineering, Moriguchi worked at

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

as an engineer, but left after his father's death to run Uwajimaya. He served as CEO and president of Uwajimaya beginning in 1965. During his tenure, he moved Uwajimaya's base of operations several times, expanding the size of his business in various locations until moving to Uwajimaya Village in 2000. He served as the president of the Seattle chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League in 1972. He was also a member of the National Council for Japanese American Redress (NCJAR). Moriguchi, along with

Kristi Yamaguchi Kristine Tsuya Yamaguchi (born July 12, 1971) is an American former figure skater. In ladies' singles, Yamaguchi is the 1992 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1991 and 1992), and the 1992 U.S. champion. In 1992, she became the first ...

, was honored by the JACL as a "Japanese American of the Biennium" in 1992. In 1994, the Washington State Legislature adopted a bill which honored Moriguchi. After stepping down as CEO of Uwajimaya in 2007, Moriguchi continued his service as chairman. On June 18, 2015, he visited

Ehime University is a Japanese national university in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The university has one of the largest student populations in the Shikoku region. After Japan's defeat in World War II, Aidai was established in May 1949 among many other ...

to discuss internship programs for students in the United States. He was named by

Puget Sound Business Journal The ''Puget Sound Business Journal'' (PSBJ) is a weekly American City Business Journals publication containing articles about business people, issues, and events in the greater Seattle, Washington area. The publication also publishes a technology ...

as one of the 35 most influential business leaders of Seattle for the past 35 years. Moriguchi retired from the management of the company in 2017. He continues to be involved in the company's real estate branch. His family received the 2017 Tomodachi Award for their contributions to the relations between Japan and Seattle. Although he did not own Nagomi Tea House, Moriguchi founded it on Uwajimaya's former business site. He accepted his position as president of Keiro Northwest, of which he was a co-founder, in 2018. He and his family were named as recipients of the 2020 Seattle-King County First Citizen Award. Moriguchi is also the board president and treasurer of the Hokubei Hochi Foundation and is president of the The North American Post Publishing Company (and former publisher). His daughter Denise is the current president and CEO of Uwajimaya.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriguchi, Tomio 1936 births Living people 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American businesspeople American people of Japanese descent American mechanical engineers Boeing people Businesspeople from Seattle Engineers from Washington (state) Japanese-American civil rights activists Japanese-American internees People from Tacoma, Washington University of Washington College of Engineering alumni American retail chief executives

Biography

See also

References

External links