James Matayoshi is the mayor of Rongelap Atoll

Rongelap Atoll

Rongelap Atoll or Namorik Atoll is a coral atoll of 61 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon with an area of...

 in the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

. He was appointed as Rongelap's mayor in 1995 and is also the chairman of the Marshall Islands Ports Authority since 2008. As the mayor of Rongelap, Matayoshi was noted for his activism on calling for the United States government to render assistance to Marshall Islanders suffering from radiation sickness as a result of a series of nuclear tests carried out under Operation Castle

Operation Castle

Operation Castle was a United States series of high-energy nuclear tests by Joint Task Force SEVEN at Bikini Atoll beginning in March 1954...

 in the 1950s.

Early life and education

Matayoshi was born in Kwajalein

Kwajalein

Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...

. His father, Woodrow Matayoshi, was a second-generation Japanese American

Japanese American

are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...

 from Hawaii, whose parents were immigrants from Okinawa. Matayoshi's mother, Almira Ainri, was a Marshallese from Rongelap and was an activist on issues pertaining to nuclear warfare until her death in June 2005. In her youth, Ainri was exposed to radioactive fallouts from the nuclear bomb tests, which left her with thyroid

Thyroid

The thyroid gland or simply, the thyroid , in vertebrate anatomy, is one of the largest endocrine glands. The thyroid gland is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage...

problems for the rest of her life. Two of Matayoshi's older siblings, Robert and Alex also suffered from thyroid problems as a result of the nuclear bomb tests. Ainri also suffered a miscarriage in 1955 which resulted in a stillborn child without a skeleton. In his youth, Matayoshi was educated in Hawaii, but returned to the Marshall Islands and was elected as Rongelap's mayor in 1995.

Political career

Since his appointment as the Mayor of Rongelap, Matayoshi campaigned vigorously for anti-nuclear causes and often attended memorial events pertaining to nuclear warfare in Japan as well as the Marshall Islands. Between 2005 to 2007, Matayoshi led lobbies against the Nuclear Claims Tribunal to provide monetary compensation to victims of nuclear bombs testings, which were targeted to be used for reconstruction efforts and facilitating resettlement in Rongelap. Japan also provided resettlement funds to Rongelap to 2005, which was motivated in part to Matayoshi's ancestral and diplomatic ties that he established with Japan.