[9] The elder Shapiro lived in Germany, where he was the first cellist of the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, and moved to Japan, where he pioneered the establishment of Western classical music.
[9] His mother was a concert pianist who met and married the elder Shapiro in Berlin, before leaving for Harbin, China, and Japan.
[11] He moved to the United States in 1945, after then-marine officer John C. Munn hired him as translator and was made his guardian.
[1] He joined Milbank Tweed upon graduating from law school and opened the firm's first Japanese office in Tokyo in 1977, which led to protests from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, resulting in a freeze on the establishment of foreign law offices in Japan.
[27] In 2006, Shapiro was awarded an Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Emperor of Japan for his service in promoting U.S.-Japan cultural relations.