Yuri Kochiyama (河内山 百合子 (ユリ・コウチヤマ), Kōchiyama Yuriko; born Mary Yuriko Nakahara; May 19, 1921 – June 1, 2014) was an American civil rights activist born in San Pedro, California. She was interned at the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas during World War II, an experience that influenced her views on racism in the United States. While interned, she helped run a letter-writing campaign to Nisei (transl. 'second-generation') soldiers, wrote for the Jerome camp newspaper, and volunteered with the United Service Organizations (USO).

After the end of the war, Kochiyama moved to New York and eventually to Harlem, where she became involved in the civil rights movement. At first working with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Kochiyama's friendship with civil rights leader Malcolm X led her to affiliate with Black nationalist organizations such as the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), and the Republic of New Afrika (RNA).

Kochiyama advocated for political prisoners, including imprisoned members of the civil rights movement, and helped to found the National Committee to Defend Political Prisoners (NCDPP) in the early 1970s. She also supported the Puerto Rican independence movement. Kochiyama played an influential role in the Asian American movement and was a member of the organization Asian Americans for Action (AAA). In the 1980s, she participated in the redress movement for Japanese Americans interned during World War II, resulting in the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which offered reparations to internment survivors.

Kochiyama is noted for her revolutionary nationalist views and her opposition to imperialism. She drew controversy in 2003 by praising Osama bin Laden, comparing him to Malcolm, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, and Fidel Castro. She has also been the subject of several biographies, children's books, and documentaries and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 alongside 1,000 other women.

Yuri Kochiyama was born Mary Yuriko Nakahara on May 19, 1921, in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her mother and father were both Japanese immigrants. Her father, Seiichi Nakahara, was from Iwate, while her mother, Tsuyako Sawaguchi, was from Fukushima. According to a family history compiled by Kochiyama's cousin, Tama Kondo, and his wife, Mary Tama Kondo, Kochiyama's father was the son of a retired samurai. He arrived in the United States in 1907, working first as an orange picker and then as a fish canner before opening a fish market and starting a business called The Pacific Coast Fish Company. Her mother was an English teacher and piano instructor.

Due to the relative affluence and prestige that came with the success of her father's fishmongering business, Kochiyama enjoyed a comfortable childhood. She was raised Christian, with her family attending the St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. She also attended several nearby Christian Science and Presbyterian churches on her own initiative, working as a Sunday school teacher. However, she criticized aspects of the religion that she viewed as being overly sectarian or chauvinistic.

Kochiyama attended San Pedro High School. While there, she became involved in numerous extracurricular activities. She attended Japanese language school; became the school's first female student body officer; wrote articles for the local San Pedro News-Pilot; played tennis; and served as a counselor for the Bluebirds, the Girl Scouts, and the YWCA Girl Reserves. After graduating, she attended Compton Junior College, where she studied art, journalism, and English. She graduated in June 1941 with an arts degree, after which she struggled to find employment due to racial discrimination.

The Japanese military launched an aerial assault on the naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, triggering the Pacific War between the United States and Japan and causing many Americans to become suspicious of Japanese Americans, viewing them as "undesirables". Soon after, the Kochiyama family's home was ransacked by members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who discovered photographs of Japanese naval ships. This, combined with her father's friendship with prominent Japanese figures such as Ambassador Kichisaburō Nomura, led the FBI to suspect him of espionage. He was detained at Terminal Island federal penitentiary. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which called for the forced internment of all people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. Kochiyama's father, who had been experiencing health issues that were exacerbated by his imprisonment, died two days later on January 21, 1942, just after being released from the penitentiary.