Embassy of Japan
Press Release
Novemeber 6, 2012

Conferral of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette
upon Mr. Shiro Floyd Mori, National Executive Director Emeritus
and former National President
of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)

 

On November 3, 2012 (Japan Time), the Government of Japan announced the foreign recipients of the 2012 Fall Imperial Decorations.  Among 46 foreign recipients is Mr. S. Floyd Mori, National Executive Director Emeritus and former National President of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), who will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, in recognition of his significant contributions to the improvement of the status of Japanese Americans, strengthening of economic relations between Japan and the United States, and the promotion of Japanese culture in the United States.

  • DECORATION: The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette
  • SERVICE: Contributed to the improvement of the status of Japanese Americans, strengthening of economic relations between Japan and the United States, and the promotion of Japanese culture in the United States.
  • NAME (AGE): Shiro Floyd Mori (73)
  • MAJOR TITLES:
    • National Executive Director Emeritus of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
    • Interim President and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS)
    • Former National Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
    • Former National President of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
    • Former California State Assemblyman
    • Former Mayor of the City of Pleasanton, CA
  • ADDRESS (NATIONALITY): Arlington, VA (USA)

 

Mr. Shiro Floyd Mori was born in Murray, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City in 1939. His parents were immigrants to the United States from Kagoshima in southern Japan. The family moved to Sandy, Utah, when he was still very young. Mr. Mori graduated from Jordan High School in Sandy, Utah in 1957. He then joined the United States Army Reserves and spent six months on active duty at Fort Ord, California. He served out his time in the Army Reserves and received an honorable discharge.

 

Mr. Mori received a Bachelor's degree with a dual major in Economics and Asian Studies in 1964 from Brigham Young University, and went on to earn a Masters degree in 1965 with a major in Economics and a minor in Political Science. He later attended fellowship programs at Stanford University and UCLA. 

 

Mr. Mori was an economics instructor at Chabot College in Hayward, California from 1965 to 1975 when he was elected to the City Council of Pleasanton, California, in the Bay Area in 1972 for a four year term. He then served as Mayor Pro Tempore and then as Mayor of Pleasanton.

 

Mr. Mori was elected to the California State Assembly in a special election in March 1975. He served for six years in that capacity as one of the first two Japanese Americans to serve in the Assembly along with Assemblyman Paul Bannai from Gardena, California. He also served one year as Director of the Office of International Trade in California. He helped to form a California Japanese Businessman Advisory Council to then Governor Brown. During the med-fly crisis in California, he served as a liaison between the State of California and the Japanese Consulates. Mr. Mori has been an international business consultant and president of Mori-Silva International for twenty years after moving to Utah in 1983. He organized trade missions to Japan for the State of California and the Governor of Utah as well as Japanese media tours of critical California and Utah industrial sectors. He has been a consultant in government relations and served as the Utah Trade Representative to Japan.

 

Mr. Mori made significant contribution to the improvement of the status of Japanese Americans in the U.S. as a leader of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), which is the oldest and largest Asian American civil and human rights organization in the nation, established in 1929 by Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans born in the United States) leaders.

 

Mr. Mori was on the chapter board of the Mount Olympus JACL chapter for over twenty years and was chapter president for four years. He also served four years as National President of the JACL from 2000 to 2004 and had previously served four years as a National Vice President. In 2005, Mr. Mori became the Director of Public Policy for the JACL in their Washington, D.C. office. He was the Interim National Executive Director of the JACL in late 2006 after which he was appointed as National Executive Director. Most recently, he spearheaded a joint JACL/Direct Relief International effort in giving emergency relief after the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan. The effort raised over $6.5 million and served thousands of displaced Japanese and supported NGO organizations directly giving support to the victims of the disaster. Also, he organized and established the first Nihon Matsuri (Japan Festival) in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2004, as well as being directly involved in the forming of sister city relationships between the US and Japan and strengthening business relationships between the two nations.

 

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