Shunzo Sakamaki (1906-1973) was born on July 5, 1906 at Olaa, Hawaii to Frank and Haru Sakamaki. A Nisei, third-born son, he had four other brothers, and two sisters who were all taught by their father to be loyal American citizens. This philosphy would go on to influence much of his career and passions in teaching and the community.

He attended Hilo High School where he was elected as the student council president, and partook in debates where he took first prize in an all-Hawaii high school oratory contest on prohibition. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii, where he also continued his debator hobby where he made a mark in 1927 when his team defeated Oxford University. From 1928-1930 he taught English at Doshisha University in Kyoto and in 1931 taught at Mid Pacific Institute.

He married Yoshiko Ikeda in 1933, and promptly traveled to Columbia University so he could earn a doctorate in Japanese history while his wife studied art and costume designing. He acheived his docorate from Columbia in 1939. During this time President Crawford of the University of Hawaii kept in correspondence with Sakamaki and later offered a job to Sakamaki teaching the Summer Session at the history department.

In 1940 he began work with the FBI on identifying Japanese Americans in Hawaii who should be considered dangerous in the event of war with Japan. This was his most controversial work, further emphasized by his invovlement with the Japanese Expatriaton Campaign during the same year. The campaign was started with the goal of simplifying the expatriation process, and Sakamaki--along with fellow colleagues--hoped that the effort would prove the loyalty of Hawaii Nisei to the rest of the US. His ideas of public advocacy of a single citizenship and simplified expatriation process dated back to his work during high school. The Oahu Citizens Committee of Home Defense set a goal of 20,000 signatures and sent correspondences to prominent Japanese-American organizations throughout the territories of Hawaii. In the end they received over 30,000 signatures and on January 7, 1940 Sakamaki and the committee sent the petitions over to the Territory's congressional delegate Samuel W. King, requesting that he present it to the Hull.

The other largest contribution attributed to Sakamaki is his status as "father of Ryukyukan Studies" at UH Manoa. In 1961 he managed to negotiate the purchase of the Hawley Collection, a rare and extensive collection of Okinawan materials. He later donated that and his own private collection to the university where it became known as the Sakamaki-Hawley Collection. To commemorate his life his colleagues petitioned to have the history building renamed to Sakamaki Hall.