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DTLA JACL, JWSSC Announce 2025 Women of the Year
Monday, February 24, 2025
[Los Angeles] The Downtown Los Angeles JACL Chapter and the Japanese Women’s Society of Southern California have released this year’s Women of the Year recipients.
Set to be honored at the annual luncheon at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 4 at the Quiet Cannon Conference & Event Center, located at 901 Via San Clemente in Montebello are Kimiko Fujita, Elaine Keiko Inoue, Jean Kodama, Darlene Kuba, Yuko Uyesugi and Heidi Yoshioka.
KIMIKO FUJITA
Born in Osaka, Japan, Kimiko Fujita started playing the piano at age 4 and switched to the Electone organ while still in high school, which was in its infancy at the time. After graduating, she became a certified instructor and began performing on TV, radio and Okinawa Expo, and teaching at Yamaha Music Schools in Japan and Australia.
Fujita moved to the United States in 1988 and opened a music school in New York. After relocating to Los Angeles, she established NYLA USA Corp. as the owner/director of Yamaha Music Schools in Irvine, Torrance and Laguna, and is currently promoting music education activities with 40 teachers and staff.
Despite the number of students declining sharply from 1,300 during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Laguna school’s closure, the school continues to offer the best of music education and has promoted music as a universal language to its 30,000 graduates over the past 35 years.
Fujita has been a volunteer with the Orange County Japanese American Association (OCJAA) since 1999 and has organized the Japan Culture Fair for 10 years, an event that deepens exchanges between Japanese cultural organizations and the citizens of Irvine. She has served as a board of directors member, vice president, and since 2013, as the president of OCJAA. She started Japanese culture classes such as flower arrangement, tea ceremony, calligraphy, iPad, computer, chair yoga, mahjong, handicrafts, hobby exchange, caregiver gatherings and health seminars, as well as hosting Angels games and Las Vegas bus trips as an enjoyable gathering for the seniors in Orange County.
When face-to-face classes became impossible, free Zoom seminars and iPhone and iPad classes were offered. After serving as president, Fujita continued to advise and support the organization. She has served as president of the
Japanese Executive Women’s League since 2002 and as vice president of the Senior Foundation Charitable Corp. since 2016 and has helped organize many charity events.
In 2016, Fujita joined the Keiro Services board of directors. As a Shin-Issei, she has been instrumental as a board member in building bridges between the Japanese and Japanese American communities. As a leader in various Japanesespeaking organizations and in her advocacy efforts, she has been influential in expanding culturally sensitive programs for older adults, such as Iyashi Care, and grant-funded educational seminars on healthy aging. She continues to be very supportive of new projects, including Keiro’s vision for developing board and care homes for those with memory loss.
Fujita has served as an honorary advisor to the Ikebana Association since 2021, the Aurora Foundation board of directors in 2024, and she recently joined the Japanese Prefectural Association of Southern California board of directors. She continues to promote communications between Orange and Los Angeles counties, and between Nihonjin and Nikkeijin. In 2021, she received the Foreign Minister’s Commendation from the government of Japan.
While in New York, she met her husband, Kihei Otani, a third-generation Japanese American and they have been married for 37 years. Nieces and nephews reside in Japan, Taiwan, Seattle and San Diego. She enjoys the growth of the 800 students who attend her Yamaha Music Schools and is fulfilled to see the musical talents, activities and success of the graduates.
ELAINE KEIKO INOUE
Cooking is Elaine Keiko Inoue’s love and passion. This love for cooking has her preparing weekly Friday meals for her Ohana family of more than 150 people at the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center (SFVJACC).
The third of eight children, Kei Inoue was born May 16, 1937, and raised in Hawaii. Her father, Ryujun Mutobe, was a Buddhist minister and her mother, Dorothy Chiyoko, was a homemaker. Kei grew up in Kahuku until World War II, when her family was taken to Crystal City Internment Camp, aka Crystal City Alien Enemy Detention Facility, in Texas. After the war, her family relocated to Wailua, Hawaii.
Inoue graduated from Wailua High School in 1956. After graduation, to fulfill her ambition to be the best homemaker possible, she moved to Los Angeles to study fashion design at Woodbury College. She met her husband, Bert, through mutual friends. They went to Mexico to get married in December 1959. The next year, they had a wedding ceremony at the West Los Angeles Buddhist Temple.
While raising five children, Inoue also worked from home. The custom clothing she created ranged from aloha shirts to wedding gowns and everything in between.
In 1986, Inoue began working at the Wood Ranch Golf Club and eventually became the associate director. Believing that family came first, she resigned from that job in 1993, to care for her first grandchild, Ryan, and then his little sister, Megan.
In 2009 Inoue began volunteering in the kitchen at the SFVJACC for the Hot Meals lunch program. After the program’s supervisor suffered a stroke in January 2014, Inoue graciously volunteered to manage the lunch program. Because she had always dreamed of owning her own Hawaiian-Japanese restaurant, the Hot Meals program seemed to be a good way to share her love for cooking.
Her lunch menu has become more fun and creative. In January, Inoue served konbumaki and nishime. On Valentine’s Day there was pot roast with special cupcakes. St. Patty’s Day had corned beef and cabbage. For Cinco de Mayo, chili verde.
Inoue has also updated the food preparation to be more effcient and healthy. Some favorite dishes that require frying, such as tonkatsu and hamburger steak, are now baked. Most of the fresh meats and table/cookware supplies are ordered online through Costco and Amazon and are then delivered to the SFVJACC. For the fruits and vegetables, however, she prefers to personally touch them at the market to guarantee fresh and unblemished produce.
For 16 years, Inoue has now been preparing those weekly meals. Although the work involved for the Hot Meals program is physically and mentally tiring, it is worth all the effort to cook for her extended ohana (Hawaiian for family). It warms her heart to cook for those who appreciate and truly enjoy eating good old-fashioned comfort food. This is why she plans to continue cooking for the Hot Meals program for as long as she is able.
JEAN KODAMA
The daughter of Kibei Nisei Tomio and Mary Uwate, Jean Kodama was born in the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles in 1955. Her parents, born in Seattle and Denver, respectively, were raised by relatives in Wakayama-ken, Japan. After the war, they came to Los Angeles, where they met, married, and had Jean and her two brothers. Around 1960, the family moved to Whittier.
As eldest, Jean had many responsibilities, including cooking, working in the family egg ranch, wholesale nursery and gardening businesses, and helping with any communications requiring English.
Tomio and Mary Uwate believed in keeping close ties to the Japanese American community. In the 1950s, the family went to Little Tokyo every weekend, where her uncle, Matao Uwate, had an office to produce his weekly Japanese language radio show.
The Uwate family was active at the Southeast Japanese School and Community Center (SEJSCC) in Norwalk. Mary served as PTA president, and was instrumental in establishing the Center’s annual summer carnival, Norwalk Kendo Dojo in 1964, and shuji classes in the 1970s. Jean started kindergarten at the Center around 1960, and she and her brothers were the first new kendō students at Norwalk Dojo. Jean’s continuous membership at the Center may be the longest of any active member.
Jean played violin, with brief stints in junior symphony on cello and viola, and was concert mistress in high school her sophomore through senior years. She also excelled in many sports throughout her youth, including high school varsity softball, basketball and volleyball, as well as junior varsity swimming and tennis. From preschool age, Jean decided her goal in life was to get straight A’s, which she accomplished all through grade school and high school. This enabled her to graduate as the valedictorian of her class, receive a National Merit Scholarship and gain acceptance to the California Institute of Technology. With other scholarship awards and many, many part-time and summer jobs, Jean was able to put herself through college and postgraduate school, culminating in a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Caltech.
It was at Caltech that Jean met future husband, David. As classmates and fellow martial artists, they were good friends throughout their undergraduate years, started dating during senior year, and married after finishing postgraduate studies, both aged 23. They still live in the house they bought in Cerritos in 1980.
Through work, kendō, and David’s astrophotography hobby, the couple has traveled extensively, visiting all seven continents before the age of 40. A few of the more exotic destinations include Antarctica, Libya, Mongolia, Tibet and Easter Island.
Kodama had a long career as an electrical engineer, eventually specializing in ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) design. She has been a founding engineer at several startup companies and holds various patents. She was well-known for taking on challenges that had never been done before, which nevertheless needed to be developed quickly and in a small ASIC footprint. Her typical work week was at least 70 hours long, often stretching to more than 100 hours in times of crisis.
As part of Norwalk Dojo and the Southern California Kendo Federation (SCKF), the largest federation in the U.S., Kodama has won many trophies and medals at the local, national and international levels. She has won spots on Team SCKF ever since the first U.S. Championships in 1978, only failing once, due to a traumatic brain injury that took over a year to recover from. She has been women’s national champion twice and world goodwill champion once. She was Team USA manager and women’s coach for the 2003 World Kendo Championships in Scotland.
Kodama has been the head instructor of Norwalk Dojo since 2006, teaching both kendō and iaidō (sword forms). She works countless hours each week, both at the dōjō and behind the scenes to ensure the members are prepared to go out into the kendō world. She also created and maintains the dōjō’s website.
For SCKF, Jean has been in charge of the membership database since 1988. She has been running promotional examinations since the 1990s. Since 1995, she has held the offices of treasurer (multiple times), 2nd VP (tournaments), executive secretary and president, and is currently the historian and an advisor. She created and maintains SCKF’s website.
For SEJSCC, Jean has participated in softball, basketball, shuji and taiko. She taught kendō to kids at every Camp Hanabi. She put on kendō demonstrations at the Center’s summer festivals, as well as at local schools.
Kodama is a life member of the Center, which gave her an “Outstanding Service Award” in 2015.
For the All United States Kendo Federation (AUSKF), Jean printed English menjō (rank certificates) from 1993 to 2005. She was webmaster from 2006 to 2020. She has assisted with the membership database since 2016.
As a woman, Kodama has risen to the top in many male-dominated disciplines and organizations, from engineering, to the art of kendō, to leadership at the local and national levels. She is currently the only female dōjō head instructor at SCKF, was the first female president of SCKF, and the first female board member of AUSKF.
The Zentoku Foundation published an article on Jean Kodama in 2021. When asked what inspires and motivates her, she said “I think of the Issei and Nisei, who lived through the Great Depression and World War II. They served on the battlefield and rebuilt their lives after the relocation camps. They stepped up to the life that was dealt them, facing one difficult challenge after the next. We need to be like them.”
DARLENE KINUKO KUBA
Darlene Kinuko Kuba
For more than 50 years, Dr. Darlene Kuba has been a significant and contributing member of the Japanese American community. She was born in Denver following her family’s World War II incarceration in Colorado’s Camp Amache. Shortly thereafter, her family moved to the Boyle Heights community in Los Angeles. As the daughter of a gardener, Kuba was taught the value of hard work. She attended neighborhood public schools and is a proud Roosevelt High School Roughrider. Growing up, she became deeply immersed in such Japanese cultural activities as tea ceremony, Japanese dance, koto, kendō, flower arranging and Japanese language.
Upon graduating high school in 1974, Kuba joined the staff of the late Gilbert Lindsay, councilmember of the 9th Council District of the city of Los Angeles. Hired initially as an intern, she quickly rose to the position of executive assistant, in which she performed a critical role in expanding and monitoring economic development, housing, transportation and employment programs and major projects throughout the 9th District, including Little Tokyo. She also worked with the Lindsay on the city’s budget and legislative matters.
In 1976, Kuba developed the Council motion to create Little Tokyo Nutrition Services (LTNS), which has provided critical nutrition and supportive services to seniors living in Boyle Heights and Little Tokyo communities for nearly 50 years. LTNS currently serves 130 congregate and home-delivered meals Monday through Friday, and also provides critical supportive services to a highly vulnerable senior community.
Councilmember Lindsay stressed the importance of higher education and encouraged Kuba to attend school at night. She obtained multiple undergraduate and graduate degrees, culminating with a doctorate in public administration in 2000.
Following the passing of Councilmember Gilbert Lindsay in 1991, she founded Kuba and Associates, which focused on government relations and land-use development. It became the first AAPI woman-owned government relations firm in Los Angeles.
An active supporter of the Japanese American National Museum, Kuba has become a key player in assisting with its fundraising and programs. She also is a proud member of the Japanese Women’s Society of Southern California. She and husband Bill Fujioka, chair of JANM’s board of trustees, raised their son, Jason.
Dr. Darlene Kuba, by making public and community service cornerstones of her personal life and public career, has embraced the importance of making a positive impact and contributing to improve the lives of others.
YUKO N. UYESUGI
Yuko N. Uyesugi was born and raised in Hiroshima, Japan. Her grandmother and mother were both teachers in traditional Japanese cultural arts, including chadō, Japanese tea ceremony and noh, classical Japanese dance-drama. She was taught to fit into society’s expectations but she also wanted to pursue her own dreams. When the opportunity arose, Yuko jumped at the chance to study abroad in America.
In the U.S., Uyesugi met and married her future husband, George. She graduated with a B.A. degree from UCLA and joined the Mat West Co. Later, her mother-in-law, Hiroko, felt Yuko should learn traditional Japanese etiquette, so she arranged for her to study chadō under Mme. Matsumoto, an esteemed tea teacher in Los Angeles.
Fast-forwarding more than 20 years later, Uyesugi felt it was time to wholly and fully pursue her interests and life goals. Because since she believes that a caring heart leads to a good community, she has for many years donated to various organizations to help disabled children. And while studying chadō over the years, Yuko participated in various forms of community service. She realized that despite our different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, many appreciate the calm, relaxing atmosphere of chadō. With George’s help and support, a tearoom later named Yusuian, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, was realized in Malibu.
In 2009, Uyesugi founded the Yusuian Foundation, a nonprofit foundation operated exclusively for charitable purposes. Its first goal is to share chadō with the greater community by promoting it at Yusuian and at public festivals and events in the greater Los Angeles area. The Foundation has held a twicea-year chadō and kadō (flower arrangement) event for the public to experience in the Yusuian tearoom, which have become so popular that a waiting list was necessary. The Los Angeles Times visited Yusuian and reported it was one of the “most soothing and refreshing experiences” in 2024.
For its second goal, the Foundation supported outside charitable organizations that aid victims of natural disasters, such as Japan’s 2011 earthquake, as well as the Terasaki Budokan project in Downtown Los Angeles and the Shoya House Project at the Huntington Library. It has also contributed to the Asian Studies departments at Pepperdine University and UCLA.
Uyesugi joined the Los Angeles chapter of the Urasenke Tankokai more than 35 years ago. She was its chief administrative officer from 2015 to 2018 and had the privilege of welcoming the previous grand master of Urasenke, Hounsai Daisosho. Uyesugi is also a Japanese Women’s Society of Southern California member and has chaired the Japanese multicultural event, Kizuna, at Gardena Buddhist Temple in 2022.
In January 2025, Yusuian in Malibu was lost in the Palisades Fire. Uyesugi was heartbroken, as it was her pride and joy, but her students and friends reached out to offer their support and encouragement. With their strength and support, she plans on rebuilding and continuing to pass on the spirit of chadō and community service to the next generation.
HEIDI M. YOSHIOKA
South Bay native Heidi Yoshioka was born at Gardena Memorial Hospital in 1964. At age 1, her parents purchased their home in Torrance, Calif. She is the only child of the late Mizuo and Janet Yoshioka and is a Sansei.
Her parents were from Kauai and Oahu, respectively, which was where she spent her summers with her many aunts, uncles and cousins until age 18. Having developed strong ties with her family from Hawaii, they travel together periodically, having last visited Japan in November 2024.
Yoshioka first aspired to become an attorney in junior high because she was looking for a profession where individuals strived to work as a team to win, and realized being a trial attorney matched her personality. She played basketball from the 6th grade and proceeded to play into her 40s, playing for either a South Bay F.O.R. team or the Wanjettes. She attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City, where she played varsity basketball for three years and was either first or second team All Marine League in all three years. Her life in leadership began during these years as sophomore class president, junior class president and ultimately, the school’s student body president.
After graduating from Narbonne High School, Yoshioka attended Loyola Marymount University (LMU), graduating with a degree in business administration and a minor in economics. She also played on the Women’s Division I basketball team, where she developed friendships that continue to this day.
Upon graduating from LMU, Yoshioka went on to Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, and she has been practicing law for 35 years. Her area of practice includes defense of general liability and products liability litigation for a large Fortune 50 communication company and insureds for a Japanese insurance company. Her career has come full circle, from a small Japanese American law firm, Suzuki & Ito, to a partner at an AM 100 firm of more than 1,400 attorneys, to a midsized firm, and now a partner at a small Japanese American law firm, Seki, Nishimura & Watase.
Yoshioka has expressed that her professional and community involvement has been truly rewarding. During her career, she served as the president of the alumni board for Southwestern Law School. In 2019 Yoshioka was named Alumni of the Year for her years of service to the law school. She has been a member of the Japanese American Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association as head of programming for the litigation section and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association, to name a few. She was also on the Steering Committee for RISE, a group of women lawyers committed to supporting professional growth through a shared commitment to the advancement of women lawyers to partnership, general counsel and other high-ranking professional positions.
Having met several promising law students and lawyers through her involvement in these organizations has allowed Yoshioka to pay it forward by mentoring and sponsoring younger attorneys, including a group of bright, strong and successful women who have moved through the ranks of their respective law firms.
As a mom to a labrador retriever and one cat, one of her proudest achievements is being on the board of directors of a canine cancer nonprofit, Miranda’s People, assisting parents of canine children afford cancer therapy. While she has no human children with her husband, Terence, she has enjoyed coaching the F.O.R. Rockets, a boys basketball team, during their formative years of ages 9-15. Her boys are now 29-year-old men.
