Richard Yutaka Fukuhara (1944-2018)
The California Young Artists Expo Richard Fukuhara Art Award is named in honor of Richard Yutaka Fukuhara, who was an advertising photographer, fine artist, and writer, as well as a social and peace activist. He was born on August 20, 1944, at Camp Minidoka in Idaho, one of ten WWII era War Relocation Authority U.S. concentration camps that incarcerated 120,000 Japanese American civilians from 1942-1945. He attended Long Beach Poly High School in California, and majored in photojournalism at Long Beach City College. Richard was a part-time sports photographer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and part-time photographer for Memorial Hospital of Long Beach. While a full-time student In 1966, Richard Fukuhara was drafted into the U.S. Army and was a staff photographer at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, before being transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington, to join the 75th Engineers Battalion as a unit photographer. Because of logistical equipment problems, the 75th never deployed to Vietnam and stayed stateside. After his military obligation, Fukuhara attended UCLA and the Art Center School of Design. In 1970 he opened Fukuhara, Inc. Photography studio in Signal Hill. His client list included Toyota, Nissan, IBM, Exxon, Occidental Petroleum, Hunt Wesson Foods, Baskin-Robbins, and Bumble Bee, to name a few.
For 25 years, Richard Fukuhara devoted his time to community service and art. His community involvement included the El Toro Young Marines, Orange County Junior Orchestra, Long Beach Japanese Cultural Center, OCO Club, Kokoro Taiko of Long Beach, Nikkei Games, “Games for the Generations,” Love to Nippon, Los Angeles Tanabata Festival, “Walk the Farm” (Tanaka Farms), LELA (Lantern from the East Los Angeles), and Los Angeles Nagoya Sister City Affiliation (LANSCA). He was an active member of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors for six years, serving as co-chair and recognized as the “Irvine Ambassador of the Year” for three consecutive years. Richard Fukuhara was an advisor to the University of Southern California (USC) Institute for Genetic Medicine Art Gallery, and president and then advisor of the Nanka Yamaguchi Kenjinkai. He also served as a contributing writer/photographer for the Rafu Shimpo newspaper.
As an artist, Richard Fukuhara had many solo and group exhibitions in California, and two solo exhibitions in Japan. Richard was a long-time member of the Los Angeles Nagoya Sister City Affiliation (LANSCA), where he led numerous art and cultural-related projects. He created the Shadows for Peace non-profit organization that produced speaker forums and stage productions giving voice to the Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) community, and honoring the perished victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in 1945. In March, 2015, both Chapman University and the Japanese American National Museum hosted the inaugural Shadows for Peace events recognizing the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings. In 2017 the Shadows for Peace / Japanese American Community Cultural Center co-produced “Afternoon of Peace” mixed arts stage production at the Aratani Theatre, in Los Angeles, CA featured a modern dance depicting the bombing and aftermath which Fukuhara conceived in a dream.
In recognition of his history of community service, Richard Yutaka Fukuhara was selected as a 75th anniversary Niseiweek Pioneer honoree.
