Frank Masao Okamura (May 5, 1911 – January 9, 2006) was a Japanese-born American horticulturalist who helped popularize the cultivation of bonsai in America.
He lost his small gardening business when in 1942, Okamura, his wife, and his two daughters were interned at Manzanar War Relocation Center as a result of Executive Order 9066.
He was brought on to help restore the vandalized Japanese garden and to look after their ailing bonsai collection.
[1][2] George Avery, also of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, noticed an influx of bonsai trees returning from the war with American soldiers.
Okamura was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure with Silver Rays in 1981 by Emperor Hirohito.