Noritaka Masuda

Nori grew up near downtown Fresno where his family owned a candy/bookstore. He graduated from Fresno High School where he loved and exceled in baseball, basketball and track. As an adult he played tennis, golf and enjoyed bowling with friends. He taught many of his nieces and nephews how to play tennis.

Nori was part of the group of men that helped prepare the Fresno Assembly Center at the Fresno Fair Grounds to house families before being shipped to Japanese Internment Camps. From there his family was sent to the camp in Jerome, AK.

He joined the U.S. Army before his family was released from internment. In the Army, Nori was part of the MIS (Military Intelligence Service). He was deployed to Japan in 1946 and spent 8 years there. It was in Japan where Nori learned the Art of Japanese Doll Making. After the war he returned to Fresno and began teaching this art to many people with materials he had bought and shipped from Japan.

In 1954 he moved and worked in LA with his brother Jim Masuda. He returned to Fresno in 1960 and began working at Montgomery Ward repairing furniture before moving on to the Bank of Tokyo as a Public Relations representative. It was in retirement that Nori found his real passion. Working with Mikami Travel he began organizing and taking group tours to Japan. He touched many lives creating wonderful memories for hundreds of people. Nori officially retired from the travel business in 2006 at the age of 90.

In 2008, Nori moved into Vintage Gardens Assisted Living. There he continued to live an independent life for the most part, still enjoying church events such as Obon, Food Bazaar and Keiro Day. The family is very grateful to the staff at Vintage Garden and the Nikkei Center for taking such good care of him for 10 years.

He is preceded in death by his parents and brothers Kazuto, Jimmy, Mike and George Masuda and sisters Dorothy Usui and Nancy Dote.

He is survived by younger sister Rosie Shigeko Okajima of Fresno.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, July 29, 2018 at Fresno Betsuin Family Dharma Center at 10:00 a.m., 2690 E. Alluvial, Fresno, CA 93720