George Takei, actor and activist, visits Tanforan Memorial Plaza at San Bruno BART Station

George Takei (pictured right), with Steve Okamoto

Actor and activist George Takei, known for his role as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu on the 1960's television series "Star Trek", visited the Tanforan Memorial Plaza at the San Bruno BART Station on Monday, October 10, 2022, to pay tribute to the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at Tanforan during WWII.

Takei (right) and Okamoto (left) tour the replica of a Tanforan horse stall that Japanese Americans were incarcerated in at Tanforan during WWII

Okamoto, who was incarcerated with his family as a baby, is vice president of the Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee. He gave Takei a tour of the memorial plaza while Takei was in the Bay Area for a speaking engagement.

Takei reading metal sign describing the memorial

Takei, 85, has always spoken out about being incarcerated ed as a young boy with his parents, first in horse stalls at the Santa Anita racetrack, then sent to Rohwer concentration camp in the swamps of southeastern Arkansas, then relocated to the Tule Lake detention facility in Northern California. Takei was interned from the ages of five to eight years old.

Takei (right) and Okamoto (left) discuss the Mochida sisters statue, scuplted by Sandra Shaw, based on a photograph by Dorothea Lange

The memorial was unveiled over the summer, along with a new long-term exhibit inside of San Bruno Station. The memorial is free and open to the public and is accessible at any time. The exhibit is accessible to anyone arriving by BART. If you are arriving to the station by another mode of transit, you may ask the Station Agent to allow you admittance to see the exhibit.

Takei with the Mochida sisters statue behind