Toshi Noma:
Lived in Osaka, Japan during time of conflict
Toshiyuki Noma is a Japanese-American that lived in Japan during the time of World War II. He currently resides in Torrance, California.
Toshiyuki, also known as “Toshi” was born in Osaka, Japan on November 23rd, 1936. He was just five years old when war broke out on December 7th, 1941.
As a child, Toshi moved around much, traveling when he was just a little boy from Osaka to an island off of Hiroshima to live with his uncle’s family.
Later in 1945, he and his family moved to Kyoto because of his father’s engineer job. While in Kyoto, he graduated elementary school and attended a private junior high school in Kyoto city.
It was then in this private school that Toshiyuki began to learn how to speak and write English. Shortly after, they moved back to Osaka, and Toshi attended his second year of junior high in an overcrowded school. He was admitted into Kona University in Kobe, joining many extracurricular activities such as debate and ESS (English Study Society).
He continued his studies in English and American culture, learning how to write short and to the point. After graduation, he joined a trading company, in which he was assigned into the accounting department, which helped his business training even further.
He was sent to Tokyo, Thailand, and then finally Gardena, California to establish a branch of the company. In 2005 he bought the company, and is currently the proud owner and operator of Noma Bearing today.
Toshiyuki otherwise known as “Toshi” was never a member at an internment camp after the attack on
but he was able to offer an insight on the how the Japanese saw this American war. Although he was just a small boy when all this took place he was able to remember important historic information. His family could not avoid the influence the war had put in the country. The big cities were hectic and full of people. He also talked about (in his interview) how the Japanese thought of Americans at the time. They were seen as monsters. He also talked about the assumptions that were made during the war. In a sense everyone was scared during the war. The Japanese-Americans in the internment camp, the Americans, and the Japanese.
 Young ToshiThis is a picture of Toshi from his college days. |  English ClubThis is a picture of Toshi's English Speech Society. |  Toshi today |
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 Toshi storyThis is an article Toshi wrote for "The Kohnan," an English-language newspaper at his college in Japan. |