Lakeside School

Image: Denise Moriguchi ’94 and her daughter, Chelsea V. ’30, at Upper School assembly on Nov. 8. 

During the Upper School assembly on Nov. 8, Denise Moriguchi was presented with the 2023-2024 Lakeside/St. Nicholas Distinguished Alumni Award. The following citation was read aloud as part of the presentation.

It’s telling that, when prompted to list her accomplishments, Denise Moriguchi — who has been the CEO of Uwajimaya since 2017 — is reflexively humble, quick to deflect credit and lavish praise on her family, her education, and her community. “I may get to accept awards,” she says, “yet I’m only in my role because of history and the hard work of others.” But Moriguchi, in fact, is the furthest thing from a placeholder. More than a talented businesswoman, she is a steward. More than a cultural representative, she’s a voice. And more than simply ambitious, she is a thoughtful visionary holding two opposing forces — tradition and change — in careful and caring balance.

It’s equally telling that Uwajimaya, the Seattle area’s beloved Asian grocery store chain, marketplace, and food hall, requires no introduction. It has been part of the city’s fabric since 1928, when Denise’s grandparents, Fujimatsu and Sadako Moriguchi, began selling fish cakes and other Japanese staples to Japanese timber and fisheries laborers out of the back of their truck in Tacoma. If an immigrant needed a place to stay, the Moriguchis offered their couch. The family, including Denise’s father, was forced into a World War II internment camp in Tule Lake, California, from 1942 to 1945, but her grandfather reopened a store in Seattle immediately after the war, helping to rebuild the Japanese business community and offering work and loans to neighbors. In 1962, he set up a booth at the Seattle World’s Fair, introducing Japanese food and products to a much broader audience — and ushering in an era of growth and recognition that has yet to abate.

Though Moriguchi never met her grandfather, most of her family — her father, six uncles and aunts, their spouses, her older brother Tyler, and a group of cousins 19 strong — grew up at Uwajimaya, whether they were crunching numbers, managing employees, bagging groceries, collecting carts, or making good-luck mochi by hand for New Year’s celebrations. “My uncles would pound the rice, the aunts would cut and shape it, and the kids would flip it to cool,” she says. “No job was too big or too small.” Her values and sense of community continued to grow at Lakeside, where she recalls finding a sense of belonging while hanging out with friends outside of TJ Vassar’s office. And where, as she puts it, “I learned how to be a good and whole person.” Moriguchi attended Bowdoin College, where she majored in economics and Asian studies, then worked at a Boston consulting firm before earning an MBA in 2007 from the MIT Sloan School of Management and joining a pharmaceutical company working in both New Jersey and Toronto.

Though she never explicitly intended to return home, the pulls of Seattle, family, and Uwajimaya were strong — especially when her aunt announced her impending retirement as CEO. Moriguchi took on a marketing role in 2013, became president in 2016, and ascended to CEO soon after, assuming oversight of more than 500 employees. She has been a Puget Sound Business Journal Woman of Influence and Middle Market honoree. On her watch, Uwajimaya received Downtown Seattle’s City Maker Award for its work in the community, including supporting the Wing Luke Museum, the Asian Counseling and Referral Service, and Keiro Northwest, a center for senior care. She has tirelessly advocated for preserving the vibrancy and cultural heritage of the Chinatown International District. In 2018, she was part of a Japanese American leadership delegation that met with Japan’s prime minister. She recently headed up a major remodel of the flagship location. As she says, “I continually realize that my job is so much more than running a grocery store.” It is, in many ways, a platform from which Moriguchi — and Uwajimaya — can educate and share across cultures, whether it’s helping a new customer navigate a packed aisle of Asian sauces or a loyalist find a taste of home. In the end, Moriguchi continues to masterfully navigate a regional treasure, honoring the past while evolving for the future.

For her contributions to and advocacy for the community, her unwavering dedication to legacy and history, and her passionate vision for cross-cultural exchange — not to mention her commitment to offering all of us really delicious food — the Lakeside/St. Nicholas Alumni Association is proud to honor Denise Moriguchi ’94 with the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award.