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Closed for Renovations

JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation and will reopen in late 2026. While the museum and store are closed, join us for programs and events on our Little Tokyo campus, throughout Southern California, and beyond. 

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  • CANCELLED: From Moth to Cloth

    Jun 23, 2018 - Jun 24, 2018

    THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELLED Saturday–Sunday, June 23–24 11 a.m.–4 p.m. (both days) Join Glennis Dolce for a two-day workshop exploring the making of silk handkerchiefs (mawata) from silkworm cocoons. Reel your own thread, then use it in craft projects. Video from Dolce’s recent trip to Japan will also be shown. Bring scissors and a seam ripper. $72 members, $90 non-members, plus $40 materials fee due ...

  • "Go For Broke!"

    Jun 02, 2013

    Screenings will be held at 12PM and 2PM. Originally released by MGM in 1951, Go For Broke! tells the story of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Join us for a viewing of this classic film.

  • "Mountains That Take Wing – Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama "Co-directed by C.A. Griffith & H.L.T. Quan

    Feb 04, 2012

    Mountains That Take Wing – Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama is an award-winning, inspiring, historically rich and unique documentary featuring conversations that span thirteen years between two formidable women who share a profound passion for justice. Through conversations that are intimate and profound, we learn about Davis, an internationally renowned scholar-activist and 88-year-old Kochiyama, a revered grassroots ...

  • Dreams to Dreams

    Dec 02, 2008 - Jan 25, 2009

    SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTThe Japanese American National Museum in association with Dacosta of Chocolate Soop bring you the first custom vinyl toy show in a museum. 39 artists have customized Chocolate Soop’s DCTO (Dream Come True Object), a futuristic vinyl version of a traditional Japanese New Year’s folk toy.DCTO (pronounced dik-toe) is an urban vinyl version of a daruma, symbol of the 5th century Buddhist monk who medita...

  • 1st & Central Summer Concerts: Chicha Libre and Etran Finatawa

    Sep 25, 2008

    1st & Central 2008 closes with a global dance party featuring the West Coast debut of Brooklyn-based Chicha Libre and the desert sounds of Niger’s Etran Finatawa. Don’t leave home without your dancing shoes as Latin rhythms, surf music, and psychedelic pop inspired by Peruvian music from the Amazon share the stage with driving guitar riffs that will transport you deep into the heart of the Sahara.

  • Grand Avenue Festival

    Oct 07, 2006

    This annual celebration of Downtown LA is chocked full of music and dance performances, exhibitions, screenings, and arts workshops. The National Museum is the "off the block" participating organization, featuring taiko performances, craft demonstrations, ondo lessons, and more. Please come and celebrate with the rest of LA! For more information, visit the Downtown LA website

  • Fresh Words & Actions: "Mixed Messages", by Cherylene Lee

    Jun 17, 2004

    When a physical anthropologist of mixed ethnicity (Chinese, Japanese, British) discovers that her skull proportions bear a remarkable similarity to La Brea Woman, a nine thousand-year-old fossil, she believes she has found an important clue that will revolutionize the accepted theory of when and how humans first arrived in North America. Her research is complicated when a mixed descendant of the Chumash tribe wants L...

  • Fresh Words and Actions

    Jul 25, 2002

    Performance Arts Series Held Every Fourth Thursday A cantankerous Chinese woman nearing the end of her life flees her home in Manila after her American grandson reveals a family secret. On the plane, she initiates an imaginary conversation with him in which she exposes the secrets of her own past. From the Second World War to the Marcos Era, from the Great Wall of China to Washington's Air and Space Museum, her ep...

  • An Afternoon with the Nishikawa Ensemble

    Feb 24, 2001

    Featuring a special presentation of To-shihun (Tu Tze-chun): A Musical Drama Narrated By George Takei Co-Sponsored by Yamaha Corporation of America and the Japanese American National Museum Join us for a performance by the Nishikawa Ensemble, an acclaimed Japanese chamber Music group. Led by Kohei Nishikawa, one of Japan's most accomplished players of both Japanese and Western flutes, the group will perform a pro...

  • Big Drum Articles—TAIKOPROJECT

    TAIKOPROJECT: Not Your Mama’s Taiko This isn’t your mama’s taiko, but it may be your hip younger cousin’s. —LA Weekly The flashy appearance of sexily-clad female taiko players in national TV commercials for Mitsubishi Motors created a stir that people are still talking about. Backed by elaborate pyrotechnics, the young performers beat drums in a frenzy of thunderous sound and motion. The recent T...