First Among Nisei: The Life and Writings of Masaji Marumoto

Primarily based on Masaji Marumoto’s oral histories, this book is an account of Marumoto’s life and career—from the time he was a child until he was well into his retirement years in the mid-1980s.

One of Hawaii’s most distinguished Nisei, Marumoto was the first person of Asian ancestry to graduate from Harvard Law School, the first Japanese American president of the Hawaii Bar Association, and the first Japanese American to serve on the Hawaii Supreme Court.

This volume includes portions of a diary Marumoto kept as a fourteen-year-old schoolboy and letters to his wife and son during his World War II military service. It is an intimate portrait of a remarkable individual—a figure of major consequence in the story of modern Hawaii.

• Dennis M. Ogawa, Author

  Dennis M. Ogawa received his PhD from UCLA in 1969 where he was honored as one of the founders of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. He is professor and former Chair at the Department of American Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Dr. Ogawa’s books (a number of which are best sellers for University of Hawai‘i Press) include Jan Ken Po: The World of Hawaii’s Japanese Americans, Kodomo No Tame Ni: For the Sake of the Children, and The First Nisei. Among his honors are the Imperial Decoration Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii’s Living Treasure of Hawaii Award, the Consulate General of Japan Commendation Award, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii’s Achievement in Leadership and Education CLAD Award, and Hawaiian Historical Society’s title of distinguished historian. In recognition of Professor Ogawa’s excellence in research, he has been invited as a Senior Fellow for both the East-West Center and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.