JANM on the Go logo
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. 

Learn More

Search Results For

  • Angel Island’s Hidden History: WWII Detention of “Enemy Aliens”

    Oct 18, 2025

    Join JANM and the Nikkei Genealogical Society for an in-depth guide to Angel Island’s hidden history during World War II. Historian and genealogist Grant Din, co-curator of the exhibit Taken From Their Families, will illuminate the experiences of nearly 700 Japanese immigrants temporarily detained at Angel Island’s Fort McDowell before transfer to other camps. As a former director of Community Resources for the An...

  • Contested Histories at MIS Historic Learning Center (San Francisco, CA)

    Sep 19, 2025 - Jan 10, 2026

    TRAVELING DISPLAYPresented by National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS) at:Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center Building 640Presidio of San FranciscoFor more information, visit njahs.org/building-640. During World War II, Japanese Americans incarcerated in America's concentration camps demonstrated their resilience, ingenuity, and creativity, from crafting necessities like furniture and ...

  • JANM Book Club: By the Shore of Lake Michigan with Nancy Matsumoto

    Apr 27, 2025

    Celebrate National Poetry Month with By the Shore of Lake Michigan, a collection of tanka poetry originally published in 1970 by Issei immigrants Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto. Join Nancy Matsumoto, the book’s editor and the granddaughter of Tomiko and Ryokuyō, for a four-part discussion of the book, along with translators Mariko Aratani and Kyoko Miyabe, and literary scholar Eri F. Yasuhara, dean emerita of the Colle...

  • Poetry at the Gate of Memory

    Mar 27, 2025

    Join poets Brynn Saito and traci kato-kiriyama for a reading celebrating the forthcoming April 2025 release of The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration. Edited by Saito and Brandon Shimoda, this poetry anthology explores the afterlife of the historical yet enduring injustice of World War II–era prisons and camps. Featured readers include David Mura, Heather Nagami, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, ...

  • The Japanese American National Museum Names Directors for the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at JANM and the Watase Media Arts Center

    Oct 20, 2022

    LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) has appointed James E. Herr as the new director of the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at JANM and Tadashi Nakamura as the new director of the Museum’s Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center. Herr brings over twenty years in philanthropic and nonprofit management to his work. Previously, he was a program officer at the Annenberg Foundatio...

  • Author Discussion—Writing Heroes with Naomi Hirahara & Sarah Kuhn

    Mar 26, 2022

    Virtual: $5 General Admission / FREE for Members In person: $16 General Admission* / FREE for Members *In person ticket included admission to the museum galleries. Learn more. Join award winning Japanese American authors Naomi Hirahara (An Eternal Lei) and Sarah Kuhn (From Little Tokyo, with Love) in discussion of their recently released books that explore the power of young women and the significan...

  • Visible & Invisible

    Apr 07, 2013 - Aug 25, 2013

    It is believed that by the 2020 U.S. Census, a majority of Japanese Americans will identify as multiracial. Explore the diverse and complex history of the mixed-race and mixed-roots Japanese American experience. Visible & Invisible, curated by Cindy Nakashima, Lily Anne Yumi Welty, and Duncan Williams, reveals the long “mixed” history in the Japanese American community. Starting with the earliest days of immigrati...

  • 'A DIVIDED COMMUNITY' DOCUMENTARY ABOUT JA WW II RESISTERS TO BE SCREENED AT JANM ON JULY 21

    Jul 11, 2012

    A new documentary by Momo Yashima, "A Divided Community: 3 Personal Stories of Resistance", which highlights the struggles of three Japanese American World War II resisters, will be screened on Saturday, July 21, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum, with a panel discussion to follow. This documentary, presented in collaboration with the George and Sakaye Aratani Endowed Chair, Asian Americ...

  • AUTHOR OF CHILDREN’S BOOK ‘MEI LING IN CHINA CITY’ TO SPEAK FEB. 7

    Feb 03, 2009

    The author of a new children’s book, Mel Ling in China City, based on the true story of a Chinese American girl, who loses contact with her Japanese American friend when her family is taken away to Manzanar during World War II, will discuss the circumstances that led her to write the book at a public program set for the Japanese American National Museum on Saturday, Feb. 7, beginning at 2 p.m. Sui Bing Tang, who w...

  • "We Tell Stories" Performs an Original Japanese American Tale at Japanese American National Museum May 8

    May 08, 1999

    The Japanese American National Museum presents another performance by the talented production troupe We Tell Stories on Saturday, May 8 at 1 p.m. Scheduled for its world premiere performance is the orginal story American Hiro, created by We Tell Stories and inspired by traditional Japanese and American folk tales and the Common Ground exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum. This unique event is free wi...