JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

EXHIBITIONS AND COLLECTIONSJANM EXTENDED THE POPULAR EXHIBITION GIANT ROBOT BIENNALE 5, WHICH CELEBRATED ASIAN AMERICAN POP CULTURE AND ART, THROUGH THE FALL. JANM'S COMMITMENT TO PRESERVING, HONORING, AND ILLUMINATING THE STORIES OF THE WORLD WAR II INCARCERATION WAS EXEMPLIFIED IN CONTESTED HISTORIES: PRESERVING AND SHARING A COMMUNITY COLLECTION, WHICH REVEALED NEW, CROWDSOURCED RESEARCH ABOUT THE IMPORTANT EATON COLLECTION OF ART AND ARTIFACTS MADE IN AMERICA'S CONCENTRATION CAMPS. TWO POP-UP EXHIBITIONS CELEBRATED JANM'S LITTLE TOKYO COMMUNITY: CELEBRATING LITTLE TOKYO AT 140 YEARS HIGHLIGHTED THE NEIGHBORHOOD'S HISTORY THROUGH ITEMS FROM JANM'S COLLECTION, WHILE MARIO GERSHOM REYES: OBRAS DE LUZ (WORKS OF LIGHT) HONORED THE COMMUNITY-BASED WORK OF THE BELOVED RAFU SHIMPO PHOTOGRAPHER. JANM'S NATIONALLY TOURING EXHIBITION PICTURES OF BELONGING, WHICH INVITES VIEWERS TO REDISCOVER THE WORK OF THREE TRAILBLAZING WOMEN - MIKI HAYAKAWA, HISAKO HIBI, AND MINE OKUBO - CONTINUED TO THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM, WHERE IT WAS MET WITH CRITICAL ACCLAIM AND SOME 800,000 VISITORS. THE JANM-ORGANIZED EXHIBITION JAPANESE AMERICAN HISTORY AND ART FROM JANM'S COLLECTION TRAVELED TO THE FURUKAWA ART MUSEUM AND THE NAGOYA CITY CIVIC RECEPTION HOUSE IN JAPAN.JANM'S PERMANENT COLLECTION OF SOME 160,000 OBJECTS CONTINUED TO GROW WITH THE ACQUISITION OF SEVENTY-NINE COLLECTIONS IN FY2025, THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF OUR DONORS. HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDED NA OMI SHINTANI'S PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE, 2014, A POWERFUL SCULPTURE OF A FLAG MADE FROM BARBED WIRE AND WOOD ORIGINALLY FROM BARRACKS AT TULE LAKE; THE "ENEMY ALIEN JACKET" ISSUED TO ITARU INA UPON HIS ARRIVAL AT THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INTERNMENT CAMP AT FT. LINCOLN IN BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA; AND A 1970S NATIONAL RICE-O-MAT MODEL SR10E RICE COOKER THAT REPRESENTS THE ARRIVAL OF JAPANESE PRODUCTS AND THE EVOLUTION OF JAPANESE AMERICAN CULTURE IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD. THESE WORKS WILL BE FEATURED IN JANM'S NEW CORE EXHIBITION. OTHER WORKS TO BE FEATURED IN THE CORE EXHIBITION LIKE THE 1938 MONTEREY JACL FLAG AND THE HEART MOUNTAIN BARRACK, UNDERWENT MAJOR CONSERVATION EFFORTS THIS YEAR.THE IREICHO NATIONAL TOUR LAUNCHED AT THE US NAVY MEMORIAL VISITOR CENTER AND THE SMITHSONIAN ON THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE, AND BROUGHT THE MOVING MONUMENT THAT IS THE BOOK OF NAMES TO MANZANAR, AMACHE, JEROME-ROHWER, AND THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA IN FY2025.

EDUCATIONAFTER CONCLUDING THE FIRST HALF OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR WITH SCHOOL CHILDREN VISITING JANM IN-PERSON BEFORE IT CLOSED FOR RENOVATION, JANM'S EDUCATION TEAM TURNED TO VIRTUAL VISITS AND PILOTED A NEW, IN-SCHOOL PROGRAM THAT BROUGHT LESSONS OF JAPANESE AMERICAN HISTORY TO MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CLASSROOMS AND ASSEMBLIES, OFTEN REACHING ENTIRE GRADES, IN SOME CASES, THE ENTIRE SCHOOL IN ONE DAY. THE MUSEUM REACHED 8,912 STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS IN 28 STATES IN FY2025. IN MAY 2025, THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES FUNDING FOR JANM'S ANNUAL LANDMARKS OF AMERICAN HISTORY TEACHER WORKSHOPS WAS TERMINATED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY. BUT DISAPPOINTMENT SOON CHANGED TO ELATION AS HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY STEPPED UP WITH DONATIONS TO BRING TEACHERS FROM ACROSS THE US TO JANM. THE SIXTY-FOUR TEACHERS ATTENDING THE WORKSHOPS IN FY2025 MET CAMP SURVIVORS AND TOURED LITTLE TOKYO AND MANZANAR, BRINGING BACK EXPERIENCES THAT WILL COLLECTIVELY REACH THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS ACROSS THE COUNTY EVERY YEAR.