Opening of “Community Voices: Japanese American Experiences at Crystal Cove (1927-1942), July 2023. From left: Jim Moreno, vice president, and Dr. Whitney Yamamura, chancellor, Coast Community College District; and Patti Hirahara. (Photo courtesy of California State Parks)

By NORI UYEMATSU

Patti Hirahara has been a preservationist of Japanese American history as well as a communications facilitator between the U.S. and Japan since 1974, and in December of 2023 she was recognized by The Orange County Registeras one of their 125 Most Influential Persons in Orange County for her activities last year.

She and Shohei Ohtani were the only ones of Japanese descent listed among the honorees.

For me, this designation is not just for her work last year in preserving the history of the Orange County Japanese American community but also to commend her for an entire career for what she has done to help and ensure our community’s history will be preserved for future generations.

She is an amazing person who unselfishly volunteers her own time and money to help get projects off the ground by providing seed money to get things rolling and has cold- called many high-ranking individuals, no matter their status, to get first-time Japanese pioneer exhibits and documentaries made utilizing her family’s over 2,000 photographs processed in a secret underground darkroom in Heart Mountain, Wyo., during World War II, which is considered the largest private collection of photos taken at the camp.

In addition, she provided unique family artifacts that developed opportunities for exhibitions to be created when people said they couldn’t be done.

Her tenacity afforded other Japanese American families the opportunity to tell their stories in the areas where they lived, and she is helping me to work with the Brigham City Museum in Brigham City, Utah to now develop its first Brigham City/Box Elder County Japanese pioneer exhibit to open in February 2025 for a four-month run.

Patti’s great-grandfather Motokichi Hirahara came to the U.S. in 1907 from Wakayama Prefecture and she is a Yonsei or fourth-generation Japanese American whose family has been in the U.S. for 117 years. She is also the last living Hirahara-surnamed descendant.

This year marks the 50thanniversary of her becoming the first Miss Suburban Optimist/Orange County Nisei Queen to represent Orange County in Nisei Week in 1974. There have been a total of 55 queens who have represented Orange County in the Nisei Week Japanese Festival since 1958.

Patti Hirahara was Miss Suburban Optimist OC Nisei Queen in 1974. (Photo by Toyo Miyatake Studio)

Although she did not win the title of Nisei Week Queen, she felt that not winning gave her the inspiration and opportunities to pursue projects as a print journalist and photographer, while still attending college, and to learn more about her Japanese heritage. She felt bad about not becoming queen that year since she wanted to make Orange County proud, but I think we can all agree that she has done many remarkable things in 50 years that most people can only dream about.

Last year alone, she worked to have the 53-year-old Japanese Garden and Teahouse at the Orange County Civic Center preserved due to its significance of representing the Japanese American resettlement in Orange County after World War II. She worked to help find many of the 55 Miss Orange County Japanese American Queens who represented Orange County at the Nisei Week Japanese Festival from 1958 to 2023, and helped put together their first reunion in 65 years last September.

She worked with the California State Parks to create their exhibit “Community Voices: Japanese American Experiences at Crystal Cove (1927-1942),” which is running through Feb. 28.

She also worked with the Japan Business Association’s Orange County Committee to honor the Japanese pioneers at the Anaheim Cemetery by placing flowers on their graves as well as introducing Orange County’s Japanese American history in an introductory YouTube video for the JBA in 2022.

Patti Hirahara

There are not that many people who know the history of the Japanese and Japanese Americans here in Orange County, and her wealth of knowledge has helped her to intervene on issues a fourth-generation Japanese American would normally know nothing about.

With these accomplishments just covering 2023, her resume is impressive with her work at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, the City of Anaheim, the Yakima Valley Museum in Yakima, Wash., and her work with the Japanese American Museum of Oregon — just a sampling of her endeavors.

What amazed me was that she was first runner-up to chef Matao Uwate of Radio Li’l Tokyo for the California statewide Chef Kiku Masamune spokesperson cooking title in 1979. She is a great Japanese cook and can also speak Japanese.

In 1984, Tokyo Broadcasting Systems’ (TBS) “Soko ga Shiritai – Little Tokyo’s 100thYear” program special featured Hirahara representing the Yonsei generation to show what Japanese Americans can do to help relations between the U.S. and Japan. This show was broadcast in Japan and in Los Angeles 40 years ago. She was also interviewed by University of Tokyo students for their documentary about Japanese Americans in September of 2014.

What I also learned about Patti over the years is that she was on the Board of Directors of the Society of Professional Journalists Los Angeles Chapter; second vice president of American Women in Radio and Television’s Southern California Chapter; a member of Nisei Week Japanese Festival’s Board of Directors in 1980-1981; a member of Suburban Optimist Club of Buena Park’s Board of Directors and Optimist of the Year for 1995-1996; 2010 City of Anaheim Community Service Award recipient; 2018 honorary alumna of Washington State University and first Japanese American to receive the honor; grand marshal of Washington State Pioneer Power Show; Pacific Southwest District Japanese American Citizens League/SELANOCO JACL honoree in 2019; Woman of the Year in the 46th Congressional District, named by Rep. Lou Correa; commendation recipient for her historical preservation work by the Anaheim Union High School District; and had her name listed on the Orange County Japanese Garden and Teahouse 50thAnniversary Plaque at the Orange County Civic Center in Santa Ana.

Through her 50 years, she has been writing stories about the Japanese American community here in Orange County as well as covering national Japanese American events for local community papers as well as being a third-generation Hirahara family photographer.

In knowing Patti for over 40 years, this is only a fraction of her resume of what she has done for 50 years but I know she will continue to do great things to honor our Orange County Japanese pioneers and to ensure our Japanese American legacy will not be forgotten by future generations to come.