Current Exhibits

September 11: Bearing Witness to History July 1 - August 15, 2004

The Japanese American National Museum is honored to be the only California venue to present the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibition, September 11: Bearing Witness to History, from July 1 to August 15, 2004. As a Smithsonian affiliate, the National Museum's goal of "sharing the American experience" and emphasis on the first-person perspective meshes with this landmark exhibition. It evokes the memories and experiences of September 11 through images, 45 carefully selected objects, and poignant stories from the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA. The interactive, commemorative exhibition encourages visitors to both reflect and contemplate the significance of experiencing a historic event as it unfolds. Image credit: American flag recovered amid World Trade Center debris at the Fresh Kills Landfill. Smithsonian photo by Richard Strauss.

Common Ground: The Heart of Community Ongoing

Incorporating hundreds of objects, documents and photographs collected by the National Museum, this exhibition chronicles 130 years of Japanese American history, beginning with the early days of the Issei pioneers through the World War II incarceration to the present. Among the notable artifacts on display is a Heart Mountain barracks, an original structure saved and preserved from the concentration camp in Wyoming. In the Dr. & Mrs. Toshio Inahara Gallery, the Ahmanson Foundation Gallery, the Reiso & Shizuka Miyamoto Gallery & the Shoan & Shizuko Yamauchi Gallery of the Museum Pavilion, 2nd floor Photo courtesy of Shizuko Horiuchi.