Background
Okamoto was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Okamoto was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He got his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. An Master in Architecture
He served as San Francisco"s Director of Planning from 1975 to 1980. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Master of Arts in 1951. And an M.City Planning from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1954. He served as a Fulbright Scholar in France in 1954 and 1955.
He established the firm of Rai Y. Okamoto, Architect, in San Francisco, from 1960 to 1963.
In 1963 he worked with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to develop a master plan for the second phase of the Japantown redevelopment. Okamoto-Liskamm was based in San Francisco, with branch offices in Seattle and New New York
In 1969 he co-authored Urban Design Manhattan with Frank East. Williams for the Regional Plan Association. In the 1970s, he was hired by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to design Buchanan Mall in Japantown, and was responsible for inviting sculptor Ruth Asawa to provide public art for the design.
He served as Director of Planning for the City and County of San Francisco from 1975 to 1980, following Allan Jacobs and succeeded by Dean Macris.