WRichard John Beyer was an American professional wrestler who is best known by his ring names, The Destroyer and Doctor X. Among other places, he worked extensively in Japan and in 2017 he was awarded one of the country's highest honors, the Order of the Rising Sun.
WFrances Kazuko Hashimoto was a Japanese-American businesswoman and community activist. Hashimoto was a key figure and proponent of Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood. The head of Mikawaya since 1970, Hashimoto, the inventor of mochi ice cream, also introduced the dessert to American consumers.
WDato' Sri Lee Ee Hoe, JP, also known as Leesan, is the first recipient in the tourism industry worldwide to be bestowed the Imperial Decoration Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays by the Emperor of Japan in 2015. This is in recognition of his longstanding contributions in the development and promotion of tourism between Japan and Malaysia, as well as his bold move to lead the first tour to Japan soon after Japan's devastating tsunami and earthquake in 2011.
WFrederick Ferdinand Moore was an early 20th century American novelist, short story writer, editor, publisher, soldier and war correspondent. His first novel The Devil's Admiral was inspired by his extensive travels as a sailor, a soldier serving in the US Army during the Philippine–American War, and later as a correspondent covering the Russo-Japanese War. As a captain in the US Army he was an intelligence officer in the American Expeditionary Force, Siberia, and was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun 5th Class by the Japanese government. He documented his first-hand experience witnessing the rise of the Bolsheviks in Siberia To-day, a text which remained as a key reference to the region for several decades after it was published.
WTetsu Nakamura , also known as Kaka Murad, , was a Japanese physician and honorary Afghan citizen who headed Peace Japan Medical Services (PMS), an aid group known as Peshawar-kai in Japanese.
WShūgorō Nakazato was an Okinawan martial artist. Described as a "one punch artist" by some of his American students, Nakazato developed his karate sparring into "a fine fighting art". He gave many demonstrations in Japan as well as abroad and had "many well-known students in the USA", Nakazato was designated as an "intangible cultural asset holder" by Okinawa Prefecture in 2000. He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 5th Class with Gold and Silver Rays on November 4, 2007.
WPAR Yuri Borisovich Norstein is a Soviet and Russian animator best known for his animated shorts Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales. Since 1981, he has been working on a feature film called The Overcoat, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol of the same name. According to the Washington Post, "he is considered by many to be not just the best animator of his era, but the best of all time".
WVincenzo Ragusa was an Italian sculptor who lived in Meiji period Japan from 1876–1882. He introduced European techniques in bronze casting, and new methods of modeling in wood, clay, plaster and wire armatures which exerted a significant role in the development of the modern Japanese sculptural arts.
WSeiichi Tanaka is the first Japan-trained teacher of kumidaiko, or taiko, in the United States and is largely regarded as the father of the art form in North America.
WAlicia Terada is an Argentine politician who served as a National Deputy elected in Chaco Province. A member of the Civic Coalition ARI, Terada was first elected in 2009, serving a four-year term until 2013. Despite running for re-election in 2013, she only took office in 2014 in replacement of Miguel Ángel Tejedor. She sat in the Juntos por el Cambio parliamentary inter-bloc from 2019 to 2021.
WRonald Stewart Watt OBE is a Scottish master of Shotokan karate. He is the founder, president and chief instructor for the "National Karate Institute Scotland" a member of the World Karate Confederation (WKC).