Decades before trade moved between the United States and Japan at its present pace, there was a Japanese immigrant's son with an American dream.

Born to a farming tycoon in California, George Aratani was forced to leave the family business behind when incarcerated with more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. After the war, he traveled to Japan with little idea of what he would import from the war-devastated archipelago. What followed was the development of his two powerful businesses, Mikasa and Kenwood.

The story of the many who founded these companies not only reflects the economic rebuilding of Japan, but also the struggle of Japanese Americans to make significant contributions to American history.

This is a first in the American Profiles series published by the Japanese American National Museum.