I’m not Arnold.

He was born to Japanese immigrants to California on June 28, 1932.  Their second son, he was named Noriyuki.

Over the next couple years, the baby showed signs of high intelligence.  His parents had great hopes that their son would be successful.  Everything seemed to be going well for their son…until the first disaster struck.

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At the age of two, little Noriyuki was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis.  From 1934 until 1943 in the Weimar Institute in Weimar, California or at the Shriners Hospital in San Francisco.  For much of that time, poor little Noriyuki wore a full-body cast and was unable to move. 

Doctors told Noriyuki that he would never be able to walk.

During nine years of treatment, undergoing extensive spinal surgery, being restricted by full-body casts, and then learning how to walk again, Noriyuki was befriended by a visiting priest who helped the boy maintain his sanity.

Just as the boy was getting better, another disaster struck.

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You’ve probably already observed that the United States entered World War II during the last two years of little Noriyuki’s treatment for spinal tuberculosis.  You’ll also recall that his parents were Japanese immigrants.

As Japanese Americans, the boy’s family was interned by the U.S. government under the theory that they might pose security risks to the U.S. following the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  After the end of his treatments, at the age of 11, Noriyuki joined his family at the Gila River camp in Arizona. A little more than a year later, they were transferred to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center.

When the war ended, Noriyuki and his family were released and moved back to the Bay Area of California.  In 1949 he graduated from Armijo High School in Fairfield, California.

For a while after their release from the internment camp, the family ran a restaurant in Sacramento named Ariake Chop Suey.  With his outgoing personality, young Noriyuki just naturally fell into the habit of entertaining customers with jokes, and even acted as master of ceremonies for group dinners.

Then yet another disaster struck.

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During a walk home from the movies one night, Noriyuki’s father was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.  The family managed to keep the restaurant running for another few years but it eventually was forced to close.

Noriyuki had married by this time and he and his wife had produced a baby, so the man took on a job with the Department of Motor Vehicles as a data processor, then with other state agencies.  He moved on to the graveyard shift at Aerojet General, then to Lockheed where he was promoted to department head, handling the liaison engineers and programmers who were mapping out lunar eclipses for Polaris and Titan missile projects.

Yes, he was that smart…but he wasn’t happy.

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Like many men who work hard and have a lot of responsibilities, Noriyuki got tired of his job.  Despite the pressure of that responsibility, he quit his job and started doing stand-up comedy at small clubs in Sacramento and San Francisco. 

Calling himself “The Hip Nip,” Noriyuki continued performing while trying to find work in the film industry.  He got a break, playing a henchman in Thoroughly Modern Millie in 1967, and a shady store clerk in The Shakiest Gun in the West, which starred Don Knotts, in 1968.  He was able to find a few parts, including recurring roles in M*A*S*H  and Sanford and Son.  He took on the part of a Japanese Rear Admiral in the war film Midway, in 1976.

Noriyuki joined the cast of Happy Days during season three (1975-76) playing Matsuo Takahashi, who bought the drive-in restaurant, Arnold’s, where he kids hung out.  Customers on the show thought his name must be Arnold, until he explained that the lettering would cost too much to rename it “Takahashi’s.”

Although the show joked around the difficulty Americans had pronouncing Japanese names, Noriyuki had a similar concern in his career.  He remembered the young Catholic priest who had befriended him in the hospital.  The father had joked that, if the boy ever converted to Catholicism, the priest would rename him to “Patrick Aloysius Ignatius Xavier Noriyuki Morita”.  So, the Japanese-American performer, Noriyuki Morita, became better known by his stage name…

Pat Morita.

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In undoubtedly his best known role, Pat Morita played Nariyoshi Miyagi, opposite “Daniel-san” (Ralph Macchio) in The Karate Kid.  The world fell in love with Mr. Miyagi, the wise and caring karate sensei and heart-broken World War II Medal of Honor recipient. 

Morita reprised the role (or very similar ones) in two sequels and in numerous other movies, cartoons, and commercials over the years.

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Noriyuki “Pat” Morita passed away on November 24, 2005 at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 73.

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