Virtual Visits

Virtual visits are available Monday–Friday with one morning availability and one afternoon availability each day. Virtual visits run 45–60 minutes and include non-customized content as well as live, structured facilitation. Prices for virtual visits are applicable for all ages. Please see below for information about financial assistance for Title I schools.

A 20-min Q&A with a first-person camp survivor is available ($50 additional fee). This is not available as a stand-alone program and must be booked in conjunction with a virtual visit. To inquire about pricing for customized content and professional development please email groupvisits@janm.org. Prices are subject to change.

Download pricing sheet

Full payment for your virtual visit is due one week prior to the date of the visit. Checks and credit card payment are accepted. JANM cannot accept purchase orders or cash for payment at this time.

Virtual Visit Pricing and Refund Information

We understand that it can be difficult to estimate the exact number of participants for a virtual visit. Please review our price tier chart before making a reservation. And please note:

JANM’s Bid for Education is a fundraising initiative that helps cover virtual visit fees for Title I schools and groups with demonstrated financial need. These grants are for groups who make advance reservations scheduled through the Education Unit and are available on a first come, first served basis. Groups must have a minimum of 10 participants to qualify.

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We require at least one teacher or supervising adult to be online with students during virtual visits.

Cancellations up to 14 days prior to the virtual visit are eligible for a full refund. After that, JANM is unable to issue a refund. Late arrivals into a virtual classroom exceeding 20 minutes beyond a scheduled start time may result in cancellation of a virtual visit.

Before your virtual visit, please make sure your group has completed any pre-visit activities which will be sent to the group leader (Grades 4–12). All groups should log-in to the videoconferencing waiting room at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

If you have any questions or specific concerns regarding your visit to JANM, please contact groupvisits@janm.org. The museum’s staff will be happy to help you arrange your visit logistics. Our goal is for you and your students to have a rewarding and educational visit.

In order to qualify for JANM’s virtual visit waivers, groups must be Title I. Our grants are available to groups who come for an experience scheduled through the Education Unit. Grants are limited and available on a first come, first served basis. Groups must have a minimum of 10 participants to qualify.

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We find it easiest for us to join your virtual classroom as guests using whichever videoconferencing platform your students are most familiar with, but we are also able to set up a JANM Zoom room.

If joining your classroom, we ask that we are made a co-host or presenter as we will need to share our screen. If using a JANM Zoom room, a unique Zoom room link and password will be set up for your visit and sent to the teacher ahead of time. The waiting room feature will be enabled and the teacher will be allowed into the Zoom room first and asked to let students in from the waiting room.

JANM relies upon teachers to closely monitor students during virtual visits. We require one supervising adult to be in the virtual classroom at all times during the virtual visit. If using a Zoom room link from JANM, we will allow the teacher into the Zoom room first and ask that they let their students in from the waiting room.

Virtual visits for school groups will be led by JANM Education Staff. Adult, college, and senior group tours will be facilitated by JANM Education Staff or trained JANM volunteer docents or facilitators. While some of our volunteers have first-hand experience with America’s concentration camps, we cannot guarantee that your group will be led (on-site or virtual) by a WWII veteran or former camp inmate.

For the unique experience of speaking to a first-person survivor of WWII incarceration, groups who have scheduled or completed virtual visits may book an additional 20-minute Q&A ($50 fee). To access oral histories online, visit DiscoverNikkei.org.

We are now offering Japanese language visits with limited availability for college, adult, and senior groups only. 

For more information please email jpngroupvisits@janm.org with the name of your school, group, or company; number of participants; and potential dates and times for your tour.

Virtual museum experiences are designed to meet the needs of 1st–12th grades plus adult and college groups. Please tell us as much information as possible (what your students are studying, what books/materials they have read, etc.) when booking your reservation. We will be happy to make sure that your experience is tailored to the appropriate grade/age level.

Students who join a virtual visit with a basic understanding of the Japanese American story have a better and deeper experience while they are here. For students 4th grade and above, there is an accompanying pre-visit curriculum that should be completed prior to the visit. Click on the link below for lesson plans and resources that may be of use.

Online Resources

Please contact us at groupvisits@janm.org as soon as you become aware of a delay. We understand that due unforeseen reasons, your group may arrive late. We may not be able to accommodate your group if you arrive more than 20 minutes late to a virtual visit.

Virtual visits can be cancelled without penalty up to 14 days prior to the virtual visit. After that, JANM is not able to issue a refund.

We understand that it can be difficult to estimate the exact number of participants for a virtual visit. Please review our price tier chart before making a reservation. And please note:

The terms used to describe what happened to 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II—relocation, evacuation, incarceration, internment, or concentration camp—vary among scholars, government officials, and even Japanese Americans themselves. While most people associate “concentration camp” with the Holocaust and many Americans feel more comfortable with milder terms like internment camps, JANM uses the term “concentration camp” because by definition a concentration camp is a place where people are imprisoned not because they are guilty of any crimes, but simply because of who they are. The U.S. government, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, used the phrase “concentration camp” in speeches and written documents during World War II.