| Japanese American National Museum | |
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Museum at First Street |
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| Established | 1992 |
| Location | Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California |
| Type | History and culture of Japanese Americans |
| Website | www.jaam.org |
The Japanese American National Museum (全米日系人博物館 Zenbei Nikkeijin Hakubutsukan) opened its doors in 1992. The idea for the museum was originally thought up by Bruce Kaji with help from other notable Japanese American people at the time. The museum is located in the Little Tokyo an area near downtown Los Angeles, California. It is devoted to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. The museum is home to a moving image archive, which contains over 100,000 feet (30,000 m) of 16 mm and 8 mm home movies of Japanese Americans from the 1920s to the 1950s. The museum also contains artifacts, textiles, art, photographs, and oral histories of Japanese Americans.
The museum contains over 130 years of Japanese American history, dating back to the first Issei generation. In 1997, the Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center was established by Robert A. Nakamura and Karen L. Ishizuka, to develop new ways to document, preserve and make known the experience of Americans of Japanese Ancestry. In 1999, the Manabi and Sumi Hirasaki National Resource Center (HNRC) was established to provide access to the museum's information and resources, both at the facility and online, and documents both the life and culture of the Japanese Americans.
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When first opened in 1992, the museum was housed in the 1925 historic Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple building. Then in January 1999, the National Museum opened its new 85,000-square-foot (7,900 m2) Pavilion to the public.[1] The temple building, used in 1942 to process Japanese and Japanese-Americans for wartime internment camps, is now used for offices and storage. The museum is also an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affiliations program.[2]
Actor George Takei serves as a member of its board of trustees.[3]
The museum currently has: Common Ground: The Heart of Community, which focuses on early immigration into the United States to the present day by presenting various art, artifacts and media. Year of the Rabbit: Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo is on exhibit from July 9 through October 30, 2011.
June 15, 2008 - September 7, 2008: Living Flowers: Ikebana and Contemporary Art, which detailed the Japanese tradition of flower arrangement, ikebana, while displaying a contemporary expression.
July 12, 2008 - August 3, 2008: Glorious Excess (Born). This exhibition presented Mike Shinoda's paintings and artwork. It ends on August 3, 2008 and is presented in two parts.