george matsumoto was born in 1922 in san francisco, california. he grew up in san francisco's nihonmachi japantown, attended lowell high school, and took japanese classes at kinmon gakuen. matsumoto attended the university of california at berkeley in architecture, but due to his internment at poston during world war ii (along with other japanese americans), he completed his undergraduate education at washington university in saint louis. he earned his graduate degree from cranbrook academy of art in michigan, studying under eliel saarinen.