The Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded Minami Tamaki LLP Partner Donald K. Tamaki with a Japan Foreign Minister’s Commendation for 2019.

The Commendations are awarded to individuals and groups with outstanding achievements in international fields, in order to acknowledge their contributions to the promotion of friendship between Japan and other countries and areas.

The Commendations also aim to promote the understanding and support of the Japanese public for the activities of the recipients.

In announcing the Commendation to Don, the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Don “has been dedicated to preserving and promoting Japanese culture in San Francisco” and “also made a tremendous contribution to improving the status of Japanese Americans in the United States of America as a member of the pro bono team that reopened and overturned Fred Korematsu’s criminal conviction in the landmark Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. the United States.”

Don will receive the Commendation in late November at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco.