Takitani, Kanichi

Before the war, Kanichi Takitani served as chairman of the Maui Japanese Merchants' Association. He also was among thirteen Maui Nikkei community members who, in 1940, were elected officers of the local Japanese Society. After the outbreak of World War II, all were arrested and imprisoned, some were interned, most had sons who served in the U.S. military during the war. These men were president Seiichi Ohata; vice-presidents Unosuke Ogawa and Motoichi Kobayashi; Japanese secretary Tomeichi Fujii; English secretary Kaoru Nagatani; treasurers Yoshio Yamane, Riichi Shibano, and Robert Sosuke Toda; auditors Kanichi Takitani, Masaru Morikawa, Makizo Kawaharada, Hatsugoro Makimoto, and Ikkei Kawachi.  

Takitani's son, Henry Toshikazu Takitani, was with the 100th Infantry Battalion and later, in the 1970s, ran for public office, serving in both the state House of Representatives and the Senate as a member from Maui.