by Sacha Wedner
Big changes are coming for the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles. On Aug. 21, the museum announced it would begin renovations in 2025 and continuing programming through a new project called JANM on the Go.
JANM has highlighted the Japanese American experience and promoted a shared appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity since its founding in Little Tokyo in 1985. Next year, it will begin renovating the Pavilion to prepare for a new core exhibit, “In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Dreams of Democracy.”
“[It] will tell the story of Japanese America as a typical rather than marginal American story that is forged as much by systemic racism as by ideals of democracy,” Karen Ishizuka, the JANM chief curator and curator of the new core exhibition, said in an email interview with AsAmNews.
Ishizuka added that the exhibit will underscore the lessons that can be learned from the Japanese American experience.
“It will highlight the heterogeneity and intersectionality of Japanese in the U.S. It will show past and present linkages between Japanese Americans and other Americans in this country that is demographically changing,” she wrote in an email.
The new exhibit will replace the current core exhibit “Common Ground: The Heart of Community,” which will close on January 5, 2025, alongside the Pavilion. JANM’s Historic Building and Tateuchi Democracy Forum will remain open during the renovation.
JANM on the Go to help museum maintain presence during renovations
According to a press release, JANM on the Go will host “special exhibitions, public programs, family festivals, education programs, and more” starting on January 2025 and continuing into 2026. It will hold those events not just in Little Tokyo and Greater Los Angeles but in other parts of Southern California, the U.S. and even Japan.
The museum won’t let itself be limited by the renovations.
“We learned a lot from the lockdown of 2020,” Ishisuka said in an email. “We are therefore even even more capable of taking our programs beyond the walls of our campus and Los Angeles, and reach a broader audience.”
Visits to the museum served thousands of students across sixteen states. JANM on the Go will host virtual field trips for grades 1 – 12. Virtual tours for adult groups will also be available. The education department is also working on piloting a virtual program that would bring JANM educators to select classrooms.
JANM on the Go will also take its exhibits on the road. According to a press release, one of the highlights of JANM on the Go is the upcoming exhibition “Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community,” which will run from July 31–November 12, 2025 at the Mullin Gallery, ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. The exhibit explores the contributions Japanese Americans have made to Southern California car culture.
Current exhibits will also travel throughout the U.S. The Ireichō: Sacred Book of Names, which documents the names of 125,000 people of Japanese descent who were forcibly incarcerated during WWII, will travel to different incarceration sites. “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo,” featuring the life stories and artwork of three Japanese American women from pre-WWII generation will embark on a national tour. The tour will begin at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.
JANM on the Go will also extend it’s reach to Japan. The exhibition Japanese American History and Art from JANM’s Collection will be on display in Nagoya and Yokohama, will BeHere / 1942 will be showcased at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. In addition, JANM will be working on it’s sister museum program at Museum of Modern Art in Wakayama.
“Our upcoming renovation and JANM on the Go are the first steps towards unlocking our future endeavors in the US and Japan,” JANM President and CEO Ann Burroughs said in an email interview with AsAmNews.
The museum will continue to participate in its usual public programs and series like the JANM Book Club. It will continue to host Oshogatsu and Natsumatsuri Family Festivals in Little Tokyo and Los Angeles.
Ishizuka told AsAmNews that it has been a challenge to “relay the almost 150 [year] history,” while connecting the past to the present.
“With this need to bring history alive for a broader audience and younger generations, I built a team of young – many of mixed heritage – Yonsei (fourth generation) Japanese Americans who are well grounded in American, Asian American, and Japanese American community studies. They have a handle on the continued significance of our history for the future,” Ishizuka wrote in an email to AsAmNews.
“I also believe that JANM’s strength – as well as responsibility – is intergenerational. To provide opportunity for new leadership as well as take advantage of the real-life experience of our mostly Nisei (second-generation) volunteers and constituency. This is a key factor in ensuring that JANM remain relevant for the future.”
Burroughs also believes their diverse array of programs and events throughout the U.S. and Japan will help the JANM “meet the people where they are and hear their American stories.”
“Our story is an American story, and our exhibitions, Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community and Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo embody our mission to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience”.
Further details about the upcoming programs can be accessed at janm.org/OnTheGo.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc. Please support our fundraisers. Purchase your tickets to a Night of Hilarity- a fun conversation with comedienne Jiaoying Summers and ABC7/KABC anchor David Ono to be held October 9 in Los Angeles.
Then join us for a stimulating conference about issues that divide the Asian American communities. Our fundraiser Common Ground and the dinner after will be held October 26 at UC Berkeley.
AsAmNews is partially supported by the Stop the Hate grant administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.