JANM Announces Four New Board Members

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 – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) announces four new members to its Board of Trustees and Board of Governors. Ford Fujii joined the JANM Board of Trustees and Glenn Kaino, David Ige, and Toshizo “Tom” Watanabe joined the JANM Board of Governors.

“Our new board members bring a wealth of innovation, artistry, vision, and entrepreneurship to  JANM’s leadership. We greatly appreciate their commitment and dedication to supporting JANM’s mission. We look forward to working with them to tell the full story of the Japanese American community—both its struggles and triumphs—and honor the legacy of generations who came before us,” said William T Fujioka, chair of the JANM Board of Trustees.

Ford Fujii is a fourth-generation Japanese American originally from Honolulu, Hawai‘i. He spent his career with IBM in Northern and Southern California where he worked in business development and managed global marketing and sales organizations for large Fortune 500 companies in the US and Japan. After retiring in 2015, he helped launch a medical technology startup that developed a new way to diagnose pulmonary hypertension. Since 2023, he has been an active JANM volunteer and Legacy Society member. He received his BS in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. He and his wife, Mari, reside in Irvine, California.

Glenn Kaino is an acclaimed contemporary artist whose practice spans across sculpture, painting, filmmaking, performance, installation, and large-scale public work. An Emmy and Webby award–winning producer and documentarian, his films have been featured at the Tribeca film festival and SXSW. Kaino’s work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Hammer Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. His critically acclaimed virtual reality work, Aki’s Market, was commissioned by JANM in 2023.

David Ige served as the eighth governor of Hawai‘i from December 1, 2014 through December 5, 2022. He was the first governor of Okinawan descent in the US. He led Hawai‘i through the COVID-19 pandemic and worked to enhance the relationship between Japan and Hawai‘i. In 2016 he welcomed then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the historic meeting with President Obama at Pearl Harbor. He also added two new sister-state agreements with Hokkaido and Yamaguchi prefectures, expanded sister school relations throughout Japan and Hawai‘i, and initiated the first two sister-library agreements. In 2023 the government of Japan awarded him with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star for promoting regional exchanges and mutual understanding between Japan and the US.

Toshizo “Tom” Watanabe is the president of the Toshizo Watanabe Foundation, chair emeritus, and former president and CEO of Nikken Global, an international home wellness products company. He also serves as the chairman of the Toshizo Watanabe Foundation and is a board member of the University of Iceland. In 2023, he was honored with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Commendation Award in recognition of his efforts to foster mutual understanding between the US and Japan and to promote the preservation of Japanese culture. The Toshizo Watanabe Democracy Fellowship is a signature initiative of the Daniel K. Inouye Center for the Preservation of Democracy at JANM and is generously supported by his contributions.

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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.