Quetzal gives a rare acoustic performance featuring their trademark mix of Mexican and Cuban rhythms, jazz, and rock. These hometown favorites create music that celebrates social and spiritual empowerment and liberation. Their conscious lyrics and sounds will be accompanied by powerful images by Akira Boch, National Museum Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center staff.

Teaching From The Heart
Honoring Educators from America's Concentration Camps

Join us as we celebrate the lives of outstanding educators who chose to teach within the confines of America's World War II concentration camps, and recognize Madame Fujima Kansuma, a legendary performer and instructor of Japanese classical dance.

The evening will include a silent auction and reception. Also, the winner of the world's first luxury hybrid SUV, the Lexus RX 400h, will be announced during the dinner program. The Opportunity Drawing is presented by Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.

Silent Auction Catalog
- Rules (38K)
- Information (28K)
- Art (590K)
- Entertainment (86K)
- Luxury (124K)
- Sports (109K)
- Travel (82K)
- Treasures (154K)
- Donor (30K)

For more information about the Annual Gala Dinner and the Lexus Opportunity Drawing, contact specialevents@janm.org or call 800-461-5266 ext 2250.

Private viewing, available to current members and an accompanying guest throughout the day.

Please show your membership card at the front desk when you arrive at the museum.

Opening of the exhibitions Japan After Perry: Views of Yokohama and Meiji Japan and Lasting Beauty: Miss Jamison and the Student Muralists

In advance of the exhibition Big Drum: Taiko in the United States (opening July 2005), musician, Yuta Kato will lead an eight-week course to give students a historical and practical approach to learning taiko. Early reservations are recommended due to limited space. Course fees are $100 for National Museum Members and $125 for non-members. Participants must be at least 16 years old.

The hilarious improvisational troupe Cold Tofu returns to the National Museum and they're ready for their close-up. Join us for an evening that's all about Hollywood.

Cold Tofu is dedicated to promoting diverse images of Asian Pacific Americans through comedy and to developing multiethnic talent through education and performance. Visit Cold Tofu online at www.coldtofu.com.

The Little Tokyo community in Los Angeles was once a thriving residential, business, and cultural center of the largest Japanese American community in the US until World War II. Relive history and learn about present day Little Tokyo with National Museum volunteers on this historical walking tour. Fees are $5 for National Museum members and $11 for non-members, includes museum admission. Reservations and comfortable shoes and clothes are recommended.

Allowed to bring only what they could carry during World War II, Japanese American inmates looked for ways to occupy their time by creating items such as bird pins. Learn the fascinating story behind the pins and design your own out of various art materials.

"Patriotism" and "loyalty" were volatile issues in America's concentration camps during World War II and continue to be controversial topics today. The program will examine the response of Japanese Americans to the US government's test of loyalty (Questions 27 and 28) -- including responses from resistors -- and our responsibility to defend those whose constitutional rights are currently being denied. The Day of Remembrance commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which led to the incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans.

In this second of three sessions, John Esaki, director of the National Museum's Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center, shares techniques to capture oral history interviews using video equipment. For more information, please refer to the January 22nd calendar listing.

Just in time for Girls' Day, this two-day class will teach participants how to make these adorable dolls. Class fees are $8 for National Museum members and $15 for non-members, includes Museum admission and supplies for both days.

This five-part seminar features Dr. Mitchell T. Maki, Acting Dean, College of Health and Human Services, California State University, Los Angeles, and author of Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress, in conversation with noted scholars, activists, and artists as they respond to propaganda artifacts displayed in the exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community. This session will examine the period covering the late nineteenth century through the Great Depression era and include comments by Akemi Kikumura-Yano, PhD?, National Museum Senior Vice President, author of Through Harsh Winters: The Life of a Japanese Immigrant Woman, and curator of the National Museum's inaugural exhibit Issei Pioneers: Hawai`i and the Mainland 1885 - 1924.

Part two of this popular craft class. Please refer to the February 26th calendar listing for further information. Note: participants must attend part one.