Michitoshi Zenimoto

Michitoshi Zenimoto
Zenimoto with Mr. Samandarí (right) and Heshmat Vahdat (left), 1966.
NSA member	Northeast Asia 1957 - 1959 1962 - 1964
ABM	Asia ???? - ????
Counsellor	Asia 1985 - 1990
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Michitoshi Zenimoto is an early Japanese Baháʼí who served on the National Assembly of Northeast Asia and as a Counsellor for Asia.

Biography

In his childhood Zenimoto was in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped. He became a Baháʼí in the early 1950's as a youth and wrote to the Guardian receiving a reply written on his behalf in October 1953.

In January 1956 Zenimoto married fellow Baháʼí Isao Sakamoto which was the first marriage between two Japanese Baháʼís in the country. Agnes Alexander, who Zenimoto considered his spiritual mother, suggested he should have a daughter and name her Mary as her own 'spiritual mother' May Maxwell had a daughter named Mary and when Zenimoto had a daughter in 1966 he named her Mari.

In 1956 Zenimoto and his wife were both elected to the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Amagasaki, and the following year Michitoshi was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Northeast Asia. He also served as an early Auxiliary Board member for Japan.

In 1958 Zenimoto participated in the first Japan Bahá’í Summer School serving on its School Committee, and accompanied Agnes Alexander and represented the Japanese Baháʼí community at the Sydney Baháʼí Intercontinental Conference in Australia held to mark the midpoint of the Ten Year Crusade. He visited many Australian Bahá’ís during his time in Australia, prompting Collis Featherstone to observe that Shoghi Effendi's wish for the Australian and Japanese Bahá’ís to visit each others homes had come true.

In 1963 Zenimoto attended the First International Convention in the Holy Land as a Japanese delegate, and the World Congress in London, voting for the Universal House of Justice and celebrating the completion of the Ten Year Crusade. In 1966 Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí visited Japan. Zenimoto was undergoing a prolonged stay in Hiroshima Municipal Hospital for medical treatment and Mr. Samandarí visited him and read a healing prayer.

In 1985 Zenimoto was appointed as a Continental Counsellor for Asia for a five year term. He was the second Japanese person to serve as a Counsellor.