SEATTLE — Former KING 5 news anchor Lori Matsukawa received one of Japan's highest honors on Wednesday.
Matsukawa is the recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays in "recognition of her contributions in promoting friendly relations between Japan and the United States." She received the award during a small ceremony hosted by Japan's consul general in Seattle.
"This is a true honor and thrill for me because for the last several years, I've been really working hard to connect people in Japan and people in the United States on a person-to-person basis," Matsukawa told KING 5.
"It's really a terrific honor," she added.
Matsukawa received the award in recognition of her contribution to improving the understanding of Japanese-Americans in the United States.
"There are many people in Japan who just don't know what the Japanese in America have accomplished," she said.
"I think if they knew the history of Japanese in America, in they knew how many Japanese-Americans were incarcerated during World War II - made their way back in the face of huge discrimination and became successful citizens in their own right - I think the people of Japan would be so proud and so happy that Japanese have done so well," she added.
Matsukawa served as the president of the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington, a gathering place to share and promote Japanese and Japanese-American culture and heritage.
Over her career Matsukawa has been honored with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Asian American Journalists Association (2005), induction to the University of Washington Communication Department’s “Alumni Hall of Fame” (2012), the NATAS Northwest “Silver Circle Award” for lifetime achievement (2014) and a regional Emmy Award in 2018 for her series “Prisoners in Their Own Land” about Japanese American wartime incarceration.
Lori was also instrumental in founding a chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.
In her 36 years at KING, Matsukawa covered the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, the 2002 and 2010 Olympics, presidential politics in Iowa, KING 5's 70th anniversary, and Japanese-Americans’ fight for redress after incarceration during World War II.