Architect Donald Yoshino’s birth in a Japanese-American internment camp shaped his life and his outlook.
Yoshino, 75, founder and president of Yoshino Architecture in Boca Raton, was born in Camp Amache in 1942.
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, precipitating America’s entry into World War II, Americans of Japanese descent living in western states were rounded up without trial, declared “enemy aliens” and forced to live in camps. Many were forced to give up or sell their property before they were interned.
Yoshino’s parents and older siblings were sent to Camp Amache in Colorado. Yoshino, a third-generation American, said his family was fortunate because his father was able to get their vineyard in California back after the war: “I credit my dad for not giving up the lease.”
Yoshino, who was too young to remember what happened, said he should have asked his parents more questions about that period in their lives. “They were pretty quiet about it,” he said.
But while he attended California State Polytechnic, there was talk across the country about possibly interning Iranians because of the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Yoshino decided not to remain quiet, speaking out at various student rallies and other campus events.
“I was very active in fighting that,” he said. “All my friends were asking why I was defending them. I said, ‘Because they’re trying to do to these people what they did to us.'”
In 1987, Yoshino moved to Florida to open an office for the architecture firm he worked for at the time. Soon after moving here, he saw the sign for Yamato Road and started asking around. “Yamato means ‘homeland’ in Japanese. … I said, ‘That’s my roots. I need to find out more.'” Eventually, he became involved in the Morikami Museum and served on the board of trustees from 1995 to 2007. In 2004, he became the first Japanese-American to serve as president of the board.
It was Yoshino’s service to Morikami that earned him special recognition from the Japanese government: the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays. One of 149 recipients, Yoshino received the Order in December during an event meant to honor the 84th birthday of Emperor Akihito of Japan.
“Donald’s support of the Morikami, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in June 2017, and his accomplishments in the years he served as a trustee greatly helped solidify its reputation as a major museum,” stated Ken Okaniwa, consul general of Japan for Florida, in a news release. “He implemented many new cultural programs and education initiatives that strengthen the friendship between Japan and Florida.”
While Yoshino embraces his family’s Japanese ancestry and heritage, the father of two daughters and grandfather of six grandchildren is proud of the diversity his family now encompasses; his wife is of Italian-Irish ancestry, one son-in-law is of Irish-Scottish ancestry, and the other son-in-law is Haitian. “When I look around the table, it looks like America.”
He also enjoys the diversity in his architecture career. His firm has designed various hotels, commercial properties and residential buildings in the United States and abroad, including the Temple Beth El Beck Family Campus in Boca and the Hilton Boca Raton Suites.
“Architecture, to me, is something where there’s no one answer,” Yoshino said. “You can go to any number of architects and get a different answer.”
