Thomas Tameichi Sakakihara (榊原為一, Sakakihara Tameichi, 1900–1989),[1][2] referred to locally as Tommy Sakakihara in person and in print,[3][4] was a Japanese American politician from Hawaii, interned due to his ancestry during World War II.
Sakakihara joined the Republican Party and first ran for political office in 1926.[5] He was elected to the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii in 1932, and served continuously then on for several terms.[6]
In 1941, Sakakihara was one of six Americans of Japanese ancestry serving in the territorial legislature. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was made a deputy sheriff of Hilo, but was later discharged from that position.[6] The intersection of Sakakihara's ancestry and rise to prominence set him up for negative attention from the US Army's Hawaii sub-command. He had earlier been listed on the Plan of Initial Seizure of Orange Nationals drawn up by George S. Patton between 1935 and 1937, among 127 other Japanese American community leaders.[7] Then on February 26, 1942, Sakakihara and roughly thirty other prominent Japanese "enemy aliens or suspected sympathisers" were arrested by the Army.[8] He was held at the Honouliuli Internment Camp until 1943; his release was conditional on a signed pledge not to sue the U.S. government for damages related to the internment.[6]
Unlike fellow legislator and Honouliuli internee Sanji Abe, Sakakihara returned to politics after the end of World War II; he and five other Japanese Americans were elected to the Hawaii territorial House of Representatives for 1947.[9] He was re-elected in 1948, along with fellow Japanese Americans Takao Yamauchi and Joe Itagaki.[10] He also served as one of the vice-presidents of the 1950 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention.[11] He found a strong political base among small sugar-growers.[12] Eventually, his long service and political support earned him a position as chairman of the legislature's Finance Committee. He was also instrumental in getting increased funding for the Hawaii Vocational College (later the Hilo branch of the University of Hawaii).[3] However, he and other Asian American Republicans lost their legislative seats in the Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954; Sakakihara himself was accused in a full-page ad in the Hilo Tribune-Herald by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union of taking salary kickbacks from his legislative workers.[5][13]
Sakakihara was born on July 17, 1900, in Hilo, Hawaii, to parents Shinzo and Hisa (née Hagihara).[14] He gained familiarity with the law by working in the office of a local lawyer.[5] His law career culminated in 14 years of service as District Judge for the Big Island of Hawaii.[7] On April 15, 1933, he married Aileen Sadako Arizumi, with whom he had two children.[12][14] Of small stature and build, he affected a dapper image, walking with a cane he admitted he did not actually need. His friends described him as aggressive and feisty.[3] He was said to be fond of Black & White whisky, and served it during his frequent parties at the Young Hotel.[4]
As late as 1970, Sakakihara was listed as a field representative for the office of Senator Hiram Fong.[15] He did not speak out publicly about his internment until February 1976, when the Honolulu Star-Bulletin interviewed a number of former Honouliuli internees for a front-page story about President Gerald Ford's rescindment of Executive Order 9066.[9] He died on February 22, 1989.[2]