November Programs Include “Cruising J-Town” Program, JANM Book Club, and Museum Store Sunday

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. 

PSA

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) has a variety of programs throughout November. Learn how Japanese Americans shaped car culture with the Cruising J-Town program, Japanese American Innovators from ArtCenter’s Transportation Design Program. Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community is extended through Sunday, December 14, 2025, at ArtCenter’s Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery in Pasadena. JANM Book Club’s Monster Maker, JANM’s local partnership with the Research Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs (RIIPA) on the Strategic Synergies seminar, and Museum Store Sunday round out the roster of this month’s events. 

Strategic Synergies: Reinforcing the Japan-US Alliance
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m.
Democracy Center at JANM
100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles
Admission: Free
JANM is a local partner for this seminar presented by Research Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs (RIIPA). Dr. Tosh Minohara, professor of the Graduate School of Law at Kobe University, will reexamine the future of the bilateral relationship between the US and Japan. As chair of RIIPA he will provide an assessment of the current state of global affairs and offer insights on strengthening this key alliance across the Pacific.

Japanese American Innovators from ArtCenter’s Transportation Design Program
Saturday, November 8, 2025
2 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
The Mullin Transportation Design Center, ArtCenter College of Design
South Campus, 950 S. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena
Admission: Free
Discover the many roles that Japanese American alumni from ArtCenter’s vaunted Transportation Design Program have played in shaping auto design over the last sixty years. Offered by ArtCenter in conjunction with the JANM on the Go exhibition, Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community.

JANM Book Club: Monster Maker with Debbi Michiko Florence and Mark Nagata
Saturday, November 15, 2025
2 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
Democracy Center at JANM
100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles
Admission: $5 (free to Members)
Join author Debbi Michiko Florence and toy designer and artist Mark Nagata for a special reading of Florence’s new book, and listen to a conversation with them moderated by JANM’s Director of Retail Enterprise, Maria Kwong. Kwong was the exhibition curator of Kaiju vs Heroes, where Florence first connected with Nagata, who is known for his kaiju (monster) designs.

Museum Store Sunday with Sonoko Sakai and HAKKO
Sunday, November 30, 2025
12 p.m.–4 p.m. 
Democracy Center at JANM
Admission: Free 
Celebrate Museum Store Sunday with the JANM Store’s unique pop-up event featuring select items from the store, HAKKO products like artisan koji, miso, and shoyu, and special offerings from Sonoko Sakai, author of Wafu Cooking: Everyday Recipes with Japanese Style. There will also be a special book signing with Sakai.

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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.