Just four days after Watanabe registered for the US military draft in Seattle, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, authorizing the forced evacuation of all west-coast Japanese into prison camps as a national security measure following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Forced evacuations began with Bainbridge Island on March 30, 1942, with Wanatabe, his family, and all Japanese in Seattle following a few weeks later.[7] Despite the disruption to his work and education, Watanabe still managed to earn his diploma in Ornamental Gardening while incarcerated at Puyallup assembly center that June.[8]

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Six months later, he was sent to Minidoka prison camp at Hunt, Idaho for another six months before being sent to work in Spokane, Washington.[9] Even after enduring the irreparable harm the evacuation and incarceration had caused him, his family, and community, Watanabe voluntarily enlisted in the US military at Fort Douglas, Utah on April 29, 1944 and served honorably.[10] As a member of the 442nd Japanese American Infantry’s Service Company, he first went to the French Alps and later Italy. As a medical technician in Italy, he earned a medical badge in August 1945 for the medical care he provided in combat.[11]  

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After WWII, Watanabe returned to Seattle where he married Toyoko Hasegawa (1922–1994) in August of 1946.[12] The couple then relocated to Corvallis, Oregon where Watanabe enrolled at Oregon State College, now Oregon State University (OSU) in circa 1948.[13] Recognized on multiple occasions for his exceptional work, Watanabe graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the School of Agriculture in May of 1952.[14]

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After graduating, Watanabe, his wife, their daughter Phyllis (1947– ), and son Wayne (1951– ) eventually returned to Seattle where they lived for the remainder of their lives. While here, Watanabe maintained a highly successful career in landscape architecture that spanned multiple decades. He primarily designed landscapes for high-end single-family residences, but also designed landscapes for multi-family, commercial, and institutional buildings—particularly later in his career. In so doing, he collaborated with many of the region’s leading architects and won national awards for his work.[15]  One of Watanabe’s more frequent collaborators was architect Benjamin F. McAdoo Jr.  (1920–1981). Their collaborations include the Greenberg Residence, Uplands neighborhood, Seattle (1954); the Hudesman Residence, 5858 Seward Park Ave S, Seattle (1957); and the historic Benjamin F. McAdoo Jr. House  in Bothell, WA (1958).[16]

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Outside of his busy career as a landscape architect, Watanabe was a member of the Washington Society of Landscape Architects and served as its secretary in 1963 and its vice president in 1965.[37] He passed away on December 17, 2018.[38]

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(Scroll past endnotes or click here to skip below for images of Watanabe's work)​