IN: Steven Frederic Seagal was born in Lansing, Michigan on April 10, 1952, the son of medical technician Patricia (1930-2003) and high school math teacher Samuel Seagal (1928-1991). His mother was of Dutch, English, and German ancestry, while his paternal grandparents were Russian Jews who immigrated to the U.S. He also has Irish and Mongolian heritage. When Seagal was five years old, his parents relocated to Fullerton, California.

Seagal moved to Japan at some point between 1971 and 1973. The date of his journey has become a point of contention due to Seagal's statement that he studied with Morihei Uyeshiba, the founder of aikido, who died in 1969. Terry Dobson, a fifth-degree black belt who studied with the master from 1961 to 1969, dismissed this claim, saying, "That story is bull. [Back then] I never heard of Steven Seagal." By 1974 Seagal had returned California. That year he met Miyako Fujitani, a second-degree black belt and daughter of an Osaka aikido master who had come to Los Angeles to teach aikido. When Miyako returned to Osaka, Seagal went with her. The following year they married and had a son, Kentaro, and a daughter, Ayako. He taught at the school owned by Miyako's family (though he is often stated to have been the first non-Asian to open a dojo in Japan). As of 1990, Miyako and her brother still taught there, and her mother was the chairwoman. Seagal initially returned to Taos, New Mexico, with his student (and later film stuntman) Craig Dunn, where they opened a dojo, although Seagal spent much of his time pursuing other ventures. After another period in Japan, Seagal returned to the U.S. in 1983 with senior student Haruo Matsuoka. They opened an aikido dojo, initially in North Hollywood, California, but later moved it to the city of West Hollywood. Seagal left Matsuoka in charge of the dojo, which he ran until the two parted ways in 1997. Seagal helped train Brazilian Mixed Martial Artist Lyoto Machida, who credited Seagal for helping him perfect the front kick that he used to knock out Randy Couture at UFC 129 in May 2011.

DId he make any movies while in Japan

OUT:

IN: Born on December 4, 1912 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, he moved with his family to the logging town of St. Maries at age three and lived there until age twelve. He then lived in Tacoma, Washington, where he was a wrestler at Lincoln High School. He took his first flight at St. Maries when he was six years old, with Clyde Pangborn, who later became the first pilot to fly over the Pacific Ocean non-stop. After graduation from high school in 1930, Boyington attended the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was a member of the Army ROTC and joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

In February 2006, a resolution recommending a memorial be erected to honor Boyington for his service during World War II was raised and defeated at the University of Washington (Boyington's alma mater) during a meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Washington's Student Senate. Some people did not believe the resolution's sponsor had fully addressed the financial and logistical problems of installing a memorial, and questioned the widely held assumption that all warriors and acts of war are automatically worthy of memorialization. The story was picked up by some blogs and conservative news outlets, focusing on two statements made by student senators during the meeting. One student senator, Ashley Miller, said that the UW already had many monuments to "rich, white men" (Boyington claimed partial Sioux ancestry and was not rich); another, Jill Edwards, questioned whether the UW should memorialize a person who killed others, summarized in the minutes as saying "she didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce." After its defeat, a new version of the original resolution was submitted that called for a memorial to all eight UW alumni who received the Medal of Honor. On April 4, 2006, the resolution passed by a vote of 64 to 14 with several abstentions, on a roll call vote. The University of Washington Medal of Honor memorial was constructed at the south end of Memorial Way (17th Ave NE), north of Red Square, in the interior of a traffic circle between Parrington and Kane Halls (47.6573degN 122.3097degW / 47.6573; -122.3097). Privately funded, it was completed in time for a Veterans Day dedication in November 2009. In addition to Boyington, it honors Deming Bronson, Bruce Crandall, Robert Galer, John Hawk, Robert Leisy, William Nakamura, and Archie Van Winkle.

Who commissioned it?

OUT:
Privately funded,