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Title: Sakae Takahashi papers
Dates: 1954-1993
Collection number: 95.63
Collection Size:
1 linear foot (9 folders, 2 oversize folders, 1 book)
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Creator: Takahashi, Sakae
Abstract: This collection contains documents, a photo, and a certificate collected by Sakae Takahashi related to his service as a Hawaiian
senator from 1967-1970. Other items are related to Hawaii and Japanese American service in WWII.
Physical location: Japanese American National Museum. 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is
required.
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections
Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).
[Identification of item], Sakae Takahashi Papers. 95.63, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
The collection was acquired in 1995 as a gift of Sakae Takahashi.
Items were described initially by staff. More description was added and a finding aid was created in 2017 by Jamie Henricks.
Biographical information condensed from a Honolulu Advertiser article (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Apr/18/ln/ln24a.html)
and a biography from the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans website (http://www.100thbattalion.org/history/veterans/officers/sakae-takahashi/):
Sakae Takahashi was born in Makaweli, Kaua'i, on Dec. 8, 1919. He graduated from Waimea High School in 1937 and was a member
of the University of Hawai'i ROTC. One of his college roommates was “Spark” Matsunaga, who later became a US Senator and
was a fellow veteran. He entered the Army in June 1941 and became one of the few non-white officers in the Hawaiian Territory.
He started as part of the 299th Infantry Regiment, then incorporated as an original member of the 100th Infantry Battalion,
the forerunner of what later became the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Takahashi rose from the rank of 1st lieutenant
to captain of Company B. Takahashi received the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
After returning to the United States, he met his wife Bette in New York, and they married in 1946. Former Senator Daniel
Inouye was their best man. Sakae received a law degree from Rutgers University and started practicing law in Hawaii in 1948.
He and his wife had four children, Karen, Kathryn, Mark, and Brian.
Takahashi began his political career when he was elected to the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of Honolulu. In
1951, Takahashi became the first American of Japanese ancestry to serve on the territorial government cabinet when he was
appointed treasurer by Governor Oren Long. In 1954, Takahashi was elected to the territorial Senate and joined other Nisei
veterans and business leaders in rejuvenating Hawaii's Democratic Party. He was elected to the first state Senate in 1959
and served for 20 years.
Takahashi was one of the founders of Central Pacific Bank in 1954. In 1993, he was honored by the Japanese government with
the Order of the Rising Sun for helping establish Central Pacific Bank and for his work as director of the Japanese Cultural
Center of Hawai'i. He retired as a director of the bank and chairman of the parent company CPB Inc. in 1990.
He passed away April 16, 2001 in Honolulu.
This collection contains correspondence, pamphlets, notes, a “class photo,” and a certificate collected by Sakae Takahashi
related to his service as a Hawaiian senator from 1967-1970. The items relate to his term as a senator, reelection, proposed
legislation, and constituent concerns. Other items include books and pamphlets related to Hawaiian history and government
history, as well as special editions of Hawaii newspapers commemorating Japanese American service in WWII. Items range in
date from 1954-1993.
The museum holds collections donated by other political figures, including Floyd Mori (a former California state assemblyman)
and Norman Y. Mineta (former US Congressman and mayor of San Jose).
Original arrangement was preserved.
Takahashi, Sakae
Japanese Americans
Hawaii. Legislature. Senate
Politicians