Japanese American National Museum

What I learned patrolling for ICE in Terminal Island The same federal facility that detained Japanese Americans in 1942 is now the staging ground for immigration raids across Los Angeles. One San Pedro resident documents what he's seen—and why history f...

What I learned patrolling for ICE in Terminal Island.

The same federal facility that detained Japanese Americans in 1942 is now the staging ground for immigration raids across LA.

One San Pedro resident documents what he’s seen and why history feels like it’s repeating itself.

Cruising J-Town documents Japanese American histories through the automobile In his new book publishing next week, Cruising J-Town, scholar and author Oliver Wang uses cars and trucks as the lens to tell community histories of Japanese Americans in the 20th century--a history ...

Our newest exhibition uses cars and trucks to tell the story of Japanese Americans in Southern California #CruisingJTown
www.latimes.com/00000198-5cf...

Image of a bright purple 1951 Mercury Coupe. Above the image is text that says, "Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community" and below the image of the car is text that says, "exhibition open July 31-Nov 12. Wed-Sun 12-5pm The Mullin Gallery 1111 S. Arroyo Pkwy, Pasadena"

NOW ON VIEW! 🏁 "Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community" tells the stories of influential figures and everyday car lovers alike who have played vital roles in countless car scenes—from hot rods and lowriders to the import craze and drift racing.

www.janm.org/exhibits/cru...

Recent immigration enforcement hits nerve with Japanese American community in LA's Harbor region A long string of recent immigration enforcement operations across Los Angeles County have resurfaced painful memories of the past with some people within the Japanese American community in the city's ...

"Right now it feels like that lesson that was learned has been entirely forgotten," says JANM curator Emily Anderson

www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/v...

A vintage black and white snapshot shows two Japanese American women in cat eye sunglasses sitting inside a beautifully upholstered Chevy Bel Air.

Oliver Wang has a great new book and exhibition about Japanese American car culture, that includes the story of the fabulous Atomettes, a women's social club that organized roadtrips barely a decade after WWII Japanese incarceration.

I write about it for @kcrw.com:
email.kcrw.com/cruising-j-t...

Photo of Nadine Sachiko Hsu’s driving down the street in a hot pink 1989 Nissan 240SX.

Opening July 31! 🏎️🏁 "Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community" tells the stories of influential figures and everyday car lovers alike who have played vital roles in countless car scenes—from hot rods and lowriders to the import craze and drift racing.

www.janm.org/exhibits/cru...

Putting American history on ICE In Long Lead's latest photo feature, some of the last survivors of Japanese American incarceration share haunting memories of injustice that echo to the present day.

Long Lead's newest feature THE AGE OF INCARCERATION puts a human face on one of the darkest stains of U.S. history — the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.

It's a testimony of a time when the U.S. locked up its own people simply because of where their families had come from.

US immigration agents show up unannounced at Puerto Rican cultural centre in Chicago More than a dozen Department of Homeland Security vehicles swarmed the parking lot of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture

JANM stands in solidarity with the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (NMPRAC) and denounces this show of intimidation and force by ICE. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/07/17/u...

Once they were gone, the Navy bulldozed homes and shops, and confiscated abandoned boats for military purposes. The Terminal Island community was imprisoned at the Manzanar concentration camp in California’s Owens Valley for the duration of the war.

Overnight, families were split apart, and homes were turned into disarray as FBI agents searched for so-called “contraband” like radios and cameras. With the signing of Executive Order 9066, the remaining community members had two days to pack their belongings and find housing.

Once home to 3,000 Japanese fishermen, cannery workers, and merchants, the Terminal Island community was shattered at the start of the US’s entry into WWII. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Issei (first generation) leaders and fishermen were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

ICE Is Staging on Terminal Island, Where Japanese Americans Were Once Abducted ~ L.A. TACO Protesters are gathering from dawn until dusk at the Japanese Fishing Village Memorial today, a San Pedro monument built to honor the local community of Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed by...

Reports of ICE presence on Terminal Island is an act that chillingly echoes the shameful forced removal of Japanese Americans from that very place eighty-three years ago. This dangerous pattern signals a willful failure to heed the lessons of wartime incarceration. lataco.com/ice-is-stagi...

Brian Niiya spoke to our @jamuseum.bsky.social teacher institute on the topic of redress (formerly interned Japanese Americans received a presidential apology and $20K each in 1988). Brian also runs Densho.org, which provides excellent resources for teaching Japanese Internment.

A special moment: Richard Murakami shared carvings his father made in internment camps in CA & AR. One act of kindness: Richard told us that a Long Beach neighbor carefully stored all of his father's farming equipment for the years of internment to return when they came home. @jamuseum.bsky.social

Incredibly fortunate to hear from four Japanese Americans who lived in internment camps as children. Two went on to serve in the US military. Thank you, Ms. Berk and Mr. Iwashashi, Mr. Yamashita, & Mr. Murakami for telling your story to our @jamuseum.bsky.social teacher institute.

Our @jamuseum.bsky.social teacher institute group had a very meaningful visit to Manzanar today. In the blazing sun, it was hard to imagine that many families spent years interned here, simply because they were of Japanese ancestry.

Our @jamuseum.bsky.social teacher institute kicked things off with very interesting walking tours of Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights, both historic centers of the Japanese American community in LA. One of our tour guides was born in Manzanar in 1944.

Our @jamuseum.bsky.social teacher institute learned about the US Army's 442nd regiment, comprised entirely of Japanese American soldiers who lived by their "Go For Broke" slogan and fought valiantly in the European theater of WWII- all while their families were interned in camps. Heroes!

‘Magic Tree House’ Author, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ among hundreds of Tennessee book bans - PEN America The removals in Tennessee are the result of a growing political movement to control information through book banning.

They banned George Takei's "They Called Us Enemy" for telling the truth about our history. @georgetakei.bsky.social
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Kick off day for the @jamuseum.bsky.social teacher institute on Japanese American history in Little Tokyo, LA. My teacher roommate and I are staying at the Miyako Hotel, which has an Ohtani mural on the side and served LA Dodger helmet shaped buns in its coffee shop.

We know too well the devastating consequences of such action—families torn apart, livelihoods destroyed, and multigenerational trauma inflicted on a community for decades.

#AlligatorAlcatraz #NeverAgainIsNow

The use of national security rhetoric to justify mass incarceration echoes the same logic that led to the forced removal and incarceration of over 125,000 Japanese Americans—our parents, grandparents and extended families—under Executive Order 9066.

#AlligatorAlcatraz #NeverAgainIsNow

If you see one of these signs at a national historic park, we encourage you to go to the link provided and tell the Department of the Interior to STOP REWRITING HISTORY.

#ScrubNothing

JANM denounces the signs at the Manzanar and Minidoka National Historic Sites, as well as at the national historic sites and parks, that encourage guests to report any information that is deemed critical of American history.

Full statement: www.janm.org/press/releas...

Signs to police 'negative' history went up at Manzanar. Historians are nervous. "It sends a pretty clear message that your story is not welcome here."

History does not yield to censorship or political ideologies. It demands honest, transparent conversations and a commitment to having an evolving understanding of how the past shapes the present and the future.
www.sfgate.com/california-p...

Over 60 Organizations File Amicus Urging Courts to Heed Lessons of Japanese American Incarceration The Asian Law Caucus filed an amicus brief asking the court to fulfill its role and duty as an arbiter of constitutional law and ensure robust judicial review of executive actions and orders.

We remember our collective history, collected and archived by generations of Japanese Americans, and won’t stand by and allow the Trump administration to mold the law to its own liking. Read about case & our amicus: bit.ly/aea-amicus

The targeting of Venezuelan immigrants by the Trump administration today mirrors our country’s dark past of rounding up and incarcerating Japanese American families during World War II.

We and 60+ orgs are joining @asianlawcaucus.org , @AAAJ_AAJC, and the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in filing an amicus brief urging the court to fulfill their role in preserving the right to due process and ensuring judicial review of executive orders.

Trump 2.0: Precarious future for American museums amid censorship and federal cuts - Museums Association Simon Stephens reports from the American Alliance of Museums conference in Los Angeles

Widespread dismantling of federal agencies that support our work and the attempts at the wholesale erasure of history will not help us achieve a more just America. www.museumsassociation.org/museums-jour...

Texas bill would prevent Chinese citizens from owning real estate there People from Iran, North Korea and Russia. also on the list - and the governor could add more.

Discriminatory laws like these are dangerous to democracy and echo past injustices, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, Alien Land Laws, and World War II incarceration policies.

fortune.com/2025/05/09/t...