Ralph Fujimoto, the Bridge between the U.S. and Japan, Passes Away

Ralph Fujimoto is remembered as the bridge between the U.S. and Japan (Photo credit: James Fujimoto)

   Mr. Ralph Fujimoto, a longtime Chicago resident whose efforts to promote business alliances between Japan and America made him a well-known figure in Chicago’s Japanese and Japanese American community, died on December 7, 2023, at his home in South Carolina where he lived with his second wife, Shirley.

   Fumio Ralph Fujimoto was born August 4, 1923, to Matsunosuke and Konoyo Fujimoto, and grew up on a farm in Buena Park, California. After the death of his father, the 14-year-old Fujimoto strove to balance his education at Fullerton Union High School with farm work to support his mother and two younger sisters.

   Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt ordered the removal of both Japanese citizens and Japanese American citizens from the West Coast. Forced to leave their property and most of their possessions behind, Fujimoto and his family were sent to Poston, Arizona, one of ten U.S. concentration camps.

   Upon his release in 1943, Fujimoto moved to Chicago, working as a chauffeur and then in a grocery store, until he could save enough money to return to Poston and resettle his mother and sisters in Chicago. Then, like many other Nisei Japanese Americans, he joined the Army, spending the rest of the war in military intelligence.

   Following the death of his mother in 1946, Fujimoto was discharged from the Army and returned to Chicago. There he met and soon married Masuko Margaret Tomioka, who had also been interned in 1942 after Pearl Harbor. He and Margaret supported his sisters and her parents while Fujimoto attended business school at night. After earning his CPA degree, Fujimoto moved his family to the Chicago suburb of Niles, where they raised their two children.

   In 1969 Fujimoto became a partner in the accounting firm Gale, Takahashi & Channon, where he pioneered and then greatly expanded their Japanese client base. In 1983 he spearheaded the merger of his Chicago firm into the international accounting firm Arthur Young & Co. There he led the Japan Business Group, which showcased his talent for building bridges between cultures, specifically Japan and America. He retired in 1988 but remained as Senior Advisor to the firm for many years.

   Fujimoto received numerous honors and awards, including the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese government, and an invitation to attend the Enthronement Ceremony for Emperor Akihito of Japan. Fujimoto also served on numerous business, arts, and community organizations, including the Japanese American Service Committee, Japanese American Citizens League, Chairman of the Chicago Japanese American Council, President of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Chicago, Interim President of the American Conservatory of Music, board member of the Chicago Botanic Garden, and enthusiastic participant/author in the Chicago Literary Club.

   An avid golfer and patron of the arts, Fujimoto frequented Chicago theaters and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which he also supported financially. In his later years, he delighted in the company of his Papillon dogs, as well as the birds and other wildlife outside his South Carolina home.

   Survivors include his sister Bessie Shiroma; his daughter, Jeanne Fujimoto and her partner, Neil Tesser; son James Fujimoto and his wife, Carol; and grandsons Matthew Fujimoto and Keith Harris, as well as Keith’s wife, Dana Sohmer, and their children Layla, Isla, and Lillian. Ralph is predeceased by his first wife, Margaret, and his sister, Pearl Kusunoki.