Hakomori was born in Sendai on 13 February 1929, and graduated from Tohoku University Medical College in 1951.
In 1959, Hakomori began teaching at the Tohoku College of Pharmaceutical Science.
[1] Upon moving to Washington, Hakomori concurrently began work for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and later the Pacific Northwest Research Institute.
[2] The Society for Glycobiology gave Hakomori its Karl Meyer Award in 1995.
[5] Hakomori shared the Society for Glycobiology's 2011 Rosalind Kornfeld Award with Yuan-Chuan Lee.