Japanese American National Museum facts for kids
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Museum at First Street
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| Established | 1992 |
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| Location | Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California |
| Type | History and culture of Japanese Americans |
| Public transit access |  Little Tokyo/Arts District |
The Japanese American National Museum (also known as Zenbei Nikkeijin Hakubutsukan in Japanese) is a special place in Los Angeles, California. It is dedicated to remembering and sharing the history and culture of Japanese Americans. The museum opened in 1992 in the Little Tokyo area, which is close to downtown Los Angeles. It is also part of the Smithsonian Affiliations program, meaning it works with the famous Smithsonian museums.
The museum shares stories from over 130 years of Japanese American history. This includes the first Japanese immigrants, known as Issei. It has a huge collection of old home movies, with over 100,000 feet of film! These movies show what life was like for Japanese Americans from the 1920s to the 1950s. The museum also keeps many other important items. These include old objects, fabrics, art, photographs, and recorded stories from Japanese Americans. The museum works with the Academy Film Archive to care for these valuable home movies.
Museum History
The idea for the museum came from an activist named Bruce Teruo Kaji (1926–2017). He was the first president of the museum. He worked with other important Japanese Americans to create this special place. The community wanted to make sure everyone knew about the unfair treatment they faced from the government during World War II.
The museum was created to keep the full history and culture of Japanese Americans alive. When it first opened in 1992, the museum was in an old Buddhist temple building from 1925. Irene Hirano was the first leader of the museum. In 1999, the museum opened its current, much larger building. This new building is 85,000 square feet and was designed by architect Gyo Obata. The old temple building was used by government officials in 1942 to process Japanese Americans for wartime confinement. Now, it is used for offices and storage.
In 1993, the museum received hundreds of items and letters. These were from children in the internment camps who sent them to a librarian named Clara Breed. These items were shown in an exhibit called "Dear Miss Breed": Letters from Camp. Now, they are a permanent part of the museum's collection.
In 1997, the Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center was started. It was created by Robert A. Nakamura and Karen L. Ishizuka. This center finds new ways to record and share the experiences of Japanese Americans. In 1999, the Manabi and Sumi Hirasaki National Resource Center (HNRC) was opened. It helps people find information and resources about Japanese American life and culture, both at the museum and online.
Akemi Kikumura Yano, an author, was the museum's first curator. She later became the president and CEO from 2008 to 2011. In 2010, the museum received a special award called the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
Actor George Takei is a member of the museum's board of trustees. He has supported the museum on TV shows like The Celebrity Apprentice.
Museum Exhibits
The museum has several exciting exhibits you can visit.
- The Interactive StoryFile of Lawson Iichiro Sakai is a cool exhibit where you can ask Lawson Sakai questions. He has answered thousands of questions about his life and what he learned.
- Common Ground: The Heart of Community tells the story of 130 years of Japanese American history. It covers everything from the first immigrants and their arrival in the United States, to their imprisonment during World War II, and up to today.
- Wakaji Matsumoto—An Artist in Two Worlds: Los Angeles and Hiroshima, 1917–1944 is an online exhibit. It shows photographs of the Japanese American community in Los Angeles before World War II. It also shows city life in Hiroshima before the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.
Past Exhibitions
The museum has hosted many interesting exhibits in the past. Here are a few examples:
- Glenn Kaino: Aki’s Market (June 2023 - January 2024)
- Don't fence me in: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps (March - October 2023)
- Sutra and Bible: Faith and the Japanese American World War II Incarceration (February 2022 - February 2023)
- Miné Okubo's Masterpiece: The Art of Citizen 13660 (August 2021 - March 2022)
- Under a Mushroom Cloud: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Atomic Bomb (November 2019 - July 2021)
- New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei (March - August 2017)
- Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty (October 2014 - May 2015)
- Dodgers: Brotherhood of the Game (March - September 2014)
- Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami (March - August 2012)
- Year of the Rabbit: Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo (July - October 2011)
- Glorious Excess (Born): Paintings by Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda (July - August 2008)
- Dear Miss Breed: Letters from Camp (January - April 1997)
Major Projects
In 2022, the museum finished a very important project called the Ireichō. This is the first complete list of over 125,000 people of Japanese descent who were held by the U.S. government during World War II. A physical book of names is at the museum. People who were held, or their families, can visit to see the names and make sure the information is correct.
Another big project is Discover Nikkei. This is an online resource available in many languages. It shares the global experience of people of Japanese descent through personal stories, old photos, and research. It also lets users share their own stories. The museum's International Nikkei Research Project also created a book called New Worlds, New Lives in 2002.
Images for kids
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The Ireicho exhibit at the museum
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Akabeko at the shop inside the museum
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Kokeshi at the shop inside the museum
See also
