Japanese Ambassador Shigeo Yamada to attend Heart Mountain Pilgrimage

Posted 7/21/26

Shigeo Yamada, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, will lead a list of special attendees and speakers for the Heart Mountain Pilgrimage from July 23-25.

Almost 400 guests are …

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Japanese Ambassador Shigeo Yamada to attend Heart Mountain Pilgrimage

The Heart Mountain Pilgrimage provides an opportunity for attendees to go through the interpretive center, which tells the story of the Japanese Americans who were forced to stay at the camp throughout World War II.

Tribune photo by Mark Davis

Linda Takahashi Rodriguez (right), a former Heart Mountain incarceree, helps Karen Kano of the Ireicho team at the Japanese American National Museum sign into the The Book of Names. For the first time, an accurate and comprehensive list of every person of Japanese ancestry incarcerated in the World War II camps will be compiled in a book called the Ireichō. The idea of a book as a monument is inspired by the Japanese tradition of Kakochō (literally, ‘The Book of the Past’), a book of names typically placed on a Buddhist temple altar and brought out for memorial services when the names of those to be remembered are chanted.

Tribune photo by Mark Davis

Posted Tuesday, July 21, 2026 8:20 am

Shigeo Yamada, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, will lead a list of special attendees and speakers for the Heart Mountain Pilgrimage from July 23-25.

Almost 400 guests are registered for the Pilgrimage events that will run Thursday through Saturday at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, Wynona Thompson Auditorium and the Cody Holiday Inn.

Joining Yamada will be members of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, including Consul General of Denver Hiroyuki Okajima. Other special guests and presenters include actors Tamlyn Tomita and Nobuko Miyamoto, artist Kenji Fujita, authors Evelyn Iritani and John Kiyonaga and beekeeper and honey maker Debra Furukawa DeWitt.

Broadcaster and documentarian David Ono will bring his "Defining Courage" production to the Wynona Thompson Auditorium at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 23, for a show that is open to the public.

Local hotelier Ted Blair will receive this year’s LaDonna Zall Compassionate Witness Award, while Heart Mountain incarceree and board member Kathleen Saito Yuille will receive the Douglas Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.

“The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is extremely honored to host Ambassador Yamada at our historic site as we celebrate America’s 250th,” said Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. “We value our relationship and collaboration with the Japanese government by sharing the knowledge of what happened to Japanese Americans during World
War II.”

The interpretive center will be closed on Saturday, July 25, to accommodate the pilgrimage crowd.