Toki Reconnects with Family in California

Four-year-old Toki was playing on the sidewalk with a toy bus outside his Salinas, California, home when his six-year-old brother Nori kicked it away. “We’re leaving,” his brother told him.

The brief moment of brotherly indifference began a journey on which the first stop was the darkness of a World War II internment camp. Life behind guarded barbed wire in the harsh Arizona sun represented a betrayal. Toki and his family were American citizens confined to a prison camp they did not choose because of their Japanese ethnicity.

The experience stuck with the brothers throughout their lives, as did their unyielding bond with one another. They were each other’s pillars of strength, resilience, and unwavering solidarity.

Later, they would serve the country that had denied them their freedom—Nori as an attack pilot in the Navy and Toki as a B-52 navigator and Electronic Warfare Officer in the Air Force.

Separated by the distance and requirements of their assignments, they found new ways to support one another. Upon learning Toki had been ejected from his aircraft and lost his survival kit, Nori designed a new vest to fit his slight build. Toki wore the vest for several years while flying combat missions, until the Air Force started making its own.

The brothers had decorated careers as aviators, flying hundreds of missions over Vietnam, both earning Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medals, and other honors.

But over the years, the obligations of military duty would see the bonds of brotherhood gradually weaken. Their separation was not willful, but a drift influenced by age, careers, and the cost of health effects from exposure to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange while in Vietnam.

When Nori passed away in 2013, Toki sat among friends and family, listening to previously untold stories. Amidst the gathering, a sense of disconnection settled upon him. Toki wondered which of his own stories remained unknown to his brother’s family. The feeling only intensified with the passing years.

This lack of connection has weighed on Toki, and his greatest desire was to be able to bridge this gap and preserve Nori’s legacy within his family. He longed to reunite with Nori’s family in California, to connect and share stories with younger generations before they were lost.

“My brother was a true hero in every sense of the word. I have wanted to honor his memory for a long time. Reuniting with his kids would be a great way to do that so I can let them know how much they and their father mean to me,” Toki said.

Wish of a Lifetime sent Toki and his family— his wife, children, grandchildren, and even his dog—to the coast of San Luis Obispo to reconnect with Nori’s family. There, Toki watched various generations come together. Cousins connected after having been separated for so many years, and other relatives met for the very first time.

“I feel the family is whole again,” Toki said. “It’s very difficult for me to put feelings to words. The words feel so inadequate to express my joy and elation and thankfulness.”