Joe Kosai

Joe Kosai was born in Tacoma in 1934 before his family was evacuated to internment camps in California and Idaho. Kosai and his family eventually settled in Ontario, Ore., where he graduated from high school in 1952. In 1988, Kosai took the first high school baseball team to Kitakyushu as a group leader to begin the program that still continues today. In honor of his dedication to the exchange, Kosai received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosettes award from the Japanese government in 2005.