Shokichi “Shox” Tokita

Shokichi “Shox” Tokita is a retired career U.S. Air Force navigator and Vietnam veteran who enjoys working out regularly, like playing pickle ball, when gathering in gyms is allowed. His present plans include submitting articles periodically to the North American Post, for which he retains “a soft spot.”

Updated November 2021

community en

Parental Responsibilities

  • By Shokichi “Shox” Tokita
  • 10 Jan 2023
The phrase “parental responsibilities,” as stated, is quite obvious and doesn’t need much of an explanation. It simply states that Mom and Dad are responsible for the well-being of their children, right? Yup. Agreed. So why the discussion? Well, when I was in my pre-driving teens, I learned about another aspect of that statement that a lot of young people don’t realize. Let me explain what I learned. When we lived in Chinatown in the late 1940s, I used to run errands for my Mom in the area. One was to run over to Main Drugs, over on 6th and Main, for prescription ite…

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sports en

Haruko (Mom), A Football Fan

  • By Shokichi “Shox” Tokita
  • 30 Dec 2022
Haruko (Mom), a football fan? Yes, a football fan. How so? Well, three of her youngest sons, Yuzo, Masao, and Goro all played Little League Football in their younger days, and Haruko went to virtually all their games. They all played for the NVC Fighting Irish under the sponsorship of the Nisei Veteran’s Committee (NVC). Yuzo played in 1951 with many of his later friends. They were very successful in that they won all of their games under the coaching of Fred Sato, Chuck Kinoshita and Charlie Chihara. They won quite easily and by wide margins. In fact, they won the city cham…

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A Lifetime Christmas Gift

  • By Shokichi “Shox” Tokita
  • 23 Dec 2022
As I mentioned before, my mother was widowed at age 41 with eight children, ages two to 14. We lived in Chinatown, or the International District as it is now called, in a run-down old hotel named the New Lucky Hotel, on the southwest corner of Maynard and Weller (present location of Luke’s Pharmacy). Mom was fortunate that she was left with this hotel because it provided the income to support her family after Papa passed away in October 1948. The period following Papa’s passing was an especially difficult time in terms of the money that was available for basic needs. When Papa di…

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war en

The Tokita World War II Diary

  • By Shokichi “Shox” Tokita
  • 9 Dec 2022
One of the most interesting aspects of the book, Signs of Home, which elaborates on my father Kamekichi Tokita’s art history and accomplishments, is that it draws heavily from his diary written during World War II. The diary is quite detailed in his thoughts, fears, feelings of disparity, how it affects him physically, and most of all, his disbelief. It is one of very few writings by an Issei that has been translated into English and into book form. Yet, what has not previously been described is the meandering path by which my father’s narrative became a book at all. To begin w…

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community en

The Seattle Uwajimaya Parking Lot

  • By Shokichi “Shox” Tokita
  • 3 May 2022
So, what about the Uwajimaya parking lot? It seems to me that it’s an ordinary store parking lot. It has a paved parking area with normal parking places marked like thousands of other parking lots. What’s so special about that? Yes, I agree. It is just an ordinary store parking lot. Just looking at it doesn’t exude much interest does it? The only thing is that that particular parking lot has a long and interesting history for Japanese Americans! The block it occupies is a historical location for Japanese American businesses which provided community income periodically for o…

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