Appointments & Memberships
Tom was appointed to numerous civic and governmental entities. He was appointed to government positions by governors, assemblymen, state senators, and county supervisors, both Republican and Democratic. Currently he serves on the Board of Trustees of the L. A. County Botanic Gardens where he has served for many years. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Keiro Services, a giant retirement and nursing home in southern California. He has served on many boards of educational and other non profit organizations such as Pepperdine University Alumni Association, the Rotary Club, Amache Historical Society, Torrance Sister City Association, the Kokusai International Bilingual School (accredited by the Japanese government), and the Malaga Cove Homeowners’ Association. . He has served for many years on the State Department of Agriculture, the Los Angeles County Energy Commission, and numerous other small, private non-profit entities for educational and other civic purposes. He is a life member of the Pepperdine University Alumni Association, the UCLA Alumni Association, and the USC Law Alumni Association and is a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.
Tom is a member of the US Supreme Court Bar, the California Bar, and various bar associations in L. A. County, the Japanese American Bar Association, and the South Bay Bar Association. He is a long time supporter of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, and is on the advisory committee of H. E. L. P., a Southern California non profit public service group dedicated to helping the elderly.
He served in the military during one of the Asian wars as Editor of Intelligence Reports for the HQ Air Intelligence Service Squadron of the U S. Far East Air Force where he worked closely with P. O. W. interrogators in the creation of target maps for use by the strategic bombers.
FARMER’S MARKETS? Tom was appointed to the State Department of Agriculture by Governor Jerry Brown who asked him what kind of appointment he wanted in California government. He told the surprised governor that he wanted to get on the Board of Agriculture which controlled the welfare of the agricultural communities across the whole State of California. The governor said, “What, you are not here to ask for an appointment to become a judge?” Tom said no, he wanted to do something that would change the face of the State of California for decades to come.
What did Tom have in mind? He lobbied for a statewide system of farmers selling directly to the public as we now have in the farmers’ markets across the face of California. Tom saw that the small farmers were having a very hard time trying to compete for the produce business with the giant supermarket chains. Having been associated with agriculture himself after he graduated from college and before law school, he knew that things had to change to protect the small farmers. While on the State Board, he was authorized by another governor to hold a meeting at the Capital in Sacramento attended by all of the supermarket lobbyists who are in constant attendance at hearings at the Capital. He asked the supermarket lobbyists what percentage of the market the small farmers controlled in California. They unanimously said about 2 percent. Tom asked if that was hurting the giant supermarkets, and they all agreed that it did not. Shigekuni then proposed to the California legislature a direct farmer-to-consumer market system, and the State Board of Agriculture backed him up 100%. That permanently changed the agricultural face of the state of California, the biggest agricultural state in the USA and saved the small farmers of California. Today, there are farmers’ markets in every community in California, the direct result of Shigekuni’s foresight.