Tracing the Kuroshio ocean current, which connects the coastlines of Japan and California, reveals an interconnected history of migration, industry, art and culture. A number of early migrants specifically from Wakayama and Chiba, many of whom came from a fishing background, made Monterey along California’s Central Coast their adopted home as a result of being able to continue with this trade. Despite being thousands of miles apart, connections abound. Join researchers, curators, filmmakers, and descendants as they trace the interesting threads that connect these places.

This program is presented in partnership with JANM’s Sister Museum, the Museum of Modern Art Wakayama, and is organized by the Executive Committee for International Exchange Programs on Migration Studies in Wakayama, which is administered by The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama. It is supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, in the fiscal year 2025.

IMAGE: Henry Sugimoto, Point Lobos, ca. 1932–1942, oil on canvas, 18 × 21.5 in.
Japanese American National Museum, Gift of Madeleine Sugimoto, 2015.2.688