The Foreign Policy Association, a national nonprofit organization, presented a certificate of recognition to Seiho Tajiri in Atlanta Oct. 24 for his efforts to promote business and personal relationships between African-Americans in the U.S. and Japanese companies and individuals.
Mr. Tajiri, an 87-year-old resident of Duluth, received the award during a program of the Georgia Council for International Visitors which also featured former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, who spoke on U.S.-Japan relations.
During his remarks, Mr. Young referred several times to Mr. Tajiri’s work to improve conditions for African-Americans dating back more than 30 years ago to when the native of Japan lived in San Francisco.
Following Mr. Tajiri’s move to Atlanta in 1975, he organized the Japanese African-American Society (JAAS). More recently, he has promoted the development of a soybean crop by African-American farmers in Georgia for the Japanese market.
To learn more about the soybean project, call University of Georgia agricultural agent Grady Sampson at (706) 554-0342. For information about Foreign Policy Association programs in Georgia, call Rosalie FitzPatrick at (404) 812-7186; fax, (404) 240-0052.