Tom is the founding Executive Director of Densho. During the past 21 years, he has conducted over 230 video oral history interviews with Japanese American elders, created online and classroom curriculum, trained over 1,000 teachers, and helped design Densho’s award winning website. Prior to Densho, Tom was a Microsoft General Manager in the Multimedia Publishing Group. He has received numerous awards for his historical contributions, including the Humanities Washington Award for outstanding achievement in the public humanities, the National JACL Japanese American of the Biennium award for Education, and the Microsoft Alumni Integral Fellows Award.

Densho is a Japanese term meaning “to pass on to the next generation,” or to leave a legacy. Densho uses digital technology to preserve and share the stories of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Densho presents these materials and related resources for their historic value and as a means of exploring issues of democracy, intolerance, wartime hysteria, civil rights and the responsibilities of citizenship in our increasingly global society.