JANM and MOMAW Present the Virtual Symposium, “Undercurrents: Tracing Shared Histories from Japan to California,” on January 17

Editors please note: JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus and at other locations at janm.org/OnTheGo. 

LOS ANGELES, CA – JANM and its sister museum, the Museum of Modern Art Wakayama (MOMAW), present the virtual transnational symposium, Undercurrents: Tracing Shared Histories from Japan to California, on January 17 from 3 p.m.–6:30 p.m. PST/January 18 from 8 a.m.–11:30 a.m. JST. Tickets are available at janm.org/events.

The Kuroshio ocean current connects the coastlines of Japan and California and reveals an interconnected history of migration, industry, art and culture between both places. Researchers, curators, filmmakers, and descendants will talk about the interesting threads that connect the two coastlines as well as the Wakayama and Chiba migrants who specialized in the fishing trade to their adopted homes on California’s Central Coast and Terminal Island.

The symposium will spotlight the migration and labor history of Chiba migrants to Monterey, California; the personal connections to and reflections about Los Angeles, Monterey, Wakayama, and Chiba; and the Kodani Guest House as the basis of conversation for artists, travel, and culture. Speakers include Evan Kodani, and John Esaki of JANM, Larry Oda and Tim Thomas of the Monterey JACL Heritage Museum, and Kimi Kodani Hill of the Kodani Guesthouse at Point Lobos.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over one hundred exhibitions onsite while traveling forty exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus, throughout Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Southern California, and beyond from early January 2025 through late 2026. For more information, visit janm.org/OnTheGo or follow us on social media @jamuseum.