Kaji Family Collection

Bruce Teruo Kaji was born in 1926 in the Bunker Hill part of Downtown Los Angeles and raised in Boyle Heights. Bruce was born Japanese immigrants, Umetaro Kaji and Katsu Kaji (nee Shimada) who both emigrated from Fukuoka. He attended Roosevelt High School before being forcibly removed and incarcerated at Manzanar at age 16 along with his parents and two sisters, Mariko and Midori. After graduating from Manzanar High School in 1944 he worked at a farm in Utah before being drafted into the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in February, 1945 where he served as a translator in Japan and the Philippines. When he returned to the United States he attended the University of Southern California (USC), after which he briefly became a teacher and eventually worked in accounting and established his own accounting firm, Merit Savings and Loan. In 1954 he married his wife, Frances Midori Kaji (nee Tashiro). In the 1960s Bruce was elected Gardena city treasurer and was a founder of the Little Tokyo Redevelopment Association. He helped to found the Japanese American National Museum in the 1980s and was integral to the fundraising and endowment of the museum.

Frances Midori Kaji (nee Tashiro) was born in 1928 in Gardena, CA to Kikuwo and Moto Mori Tashiro, who were both immigrants from Kumamoto and Nagasaki respectively. Her father, Kikuwo Tashiro, was a doctor who helped establish the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles. After the issuing of Executive Order 9066, Frances and her family briefly moved to Fresno, CA before being forcibly removed and incarcerated at Poston. Her family relocated from Poston to Denver, CO, where they were able to work and live on a sugar beet farm before moving back to Los Angeles near the end of WWII. Frances lived in Boyle Heights and graduated from Hollywood High School and later moved to Gardena after marrying Bruce.

Frances Kaji passed away in 2016 and Bruce Kaji passed away in 2017. Both were survived by their children, Jonathan, Troy, and Miki, as well as 8 grandchildren.

Jon Kaji, son of Frances and Bruce, founded the real estate firm Kaji and Associates in 1984. He was elected to Torrance City Council representing District 1 in 2022.