Education Resources

This activity guide, designed to accompany Miné Okubo’s Masterpiece: The Art of Citizen 13360 (on view at JANM through February 20, 2022), engages the user with activities and prompts that encourage thoughtful reflection and art making inspired by JANM’s collection of Okubo’s illustrations.

This booklet was created for the in-gallery experience but can be used at home with the museum’s digital repository of Okubo’s work.

Perfect for kids and creators of all ages, this activity book is designed to supplement the KCET and JANM’s Watase Media Arts Center co-produced documentary, Masters of Modern Design: The Art of the Japanese American Experience. 

These activities—designed to be done at home, offline and with materials lying around the house—are inspired by the legacies of the great Japanese American artists highlighted in the film. 

Share your art and find additional inspiration using the #JANMinspired.

JANM Kids features games designed especially for kids to learn about Japanese and Japanese American culture.

Explore Japanese food, design your own Japanese wooden doll (kokeshi), try your hand at taiko drumming with a surprisingly challenging three-level taiko game, practice haiku poetry, and more!

In 1943, Louise Sasano mapped the area around her barracks at Amache concentration camp. She made sure to include all the details that make a neighborhood feel like home.

Take inspiration from Sasano and this piece in JANM’s collection to document your neighborhood.

Share your creations on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

Art and fashion often respond to our surroundings and our resources, like the delicate shell jewelry made by Ryo Maruoka during her time at Topaz concentration camp.

Find inspiration in JANM’s collection to transform everyday materials into wearable art.

Share your creations on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

During World War II, 14-year-old Lilian Yamashita drew her barrack to document what life was like at Rowher concentration camp. Decades later, this artifact gives us insight into her experience during a period of great uncertainty for her and her family.

Take inspiration from JANM’s collection to document the space where you live and capture a moment in time.

Share your creations on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

What can a paper hat teach us about early Japanese immigrants’ experiences in Hawai‘i?

Take inspiration from the Barbara Kawakami Collection sunhats to create some homemade “personal protective equipment” that shows off your creativity and style!

Share your creations on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

Clara Breed, the San Diego Public Librarian from 1929–1945, was a lifelong friend to the Japanese American community. By keeping in touch with her former patrons after they were forcibly removed from their Southern California homes, she demonstrated friendship and allyship in the letters she wrote.

In the spirit of the Clara Breed Collection, write a letter to someone you care about.

Share your creations on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

Pennants are a fun way to express yourself and your passions. Historically they are used to celebrate parts of a person’s identity like their hometowns, favorite sports team, and alma maters! 

These sweet and cherished souvenirs were popular décor inside barracks across America’s concentration camps during World War II and are a great way show your personality and creativity. 

Share your creations online using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

Fingerprint art is a safe and unique way to channel creativity and put a personal stamp on all your works of art!

Inspired by an inky pawprint that was included in a note sent to a young girl incarcerated in Poston, use markers as makeshift inkpads and bring your colorful fingerprints to life! 

Share your creations on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

Art can be a great way to see the world around us in a new light. Inspired by Japanese American artist Nobuko Yanagimachi’s depiction of 1930s Seattle, try your hand at a simple crayon-based engraving technique to create a colorful drawing. 

Share your engravings on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired.

What objects would you use to share the story of your life if there was a museum about you?

In this activity you’ll curate a mini exhibition from your home “collection” and make a museum display that shows who you are!

Share your exhibits with us on social media using the hashtag #JANMinspired!

This online resource to teach about the Japanese American experience during World War II utilizes artifacts donated to JANM by the Gihachi Yamashita family. It includes an Issei’s reflections while separated from his family, and correspondence between him and his wife and daughters as they reached out to each other through months and years of fear and anxiety.

This thematic and inquiry-based JANM microsite, aimed at secondary students and teachers, integrates photographs, letters, artwork, oral histories, and moving images from our permanent collection to share stories from all ten of the War Relocation Authority camps.

Carefully analyze and dissect a Civilian Exclusion Order for euphemistic language, misleading descriptions, and questionable instructions. Lesson developed by JANM Education staff and available through the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access.

Critically analyze photographs depicting the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. Lesson developed by JANM Education staff and available through the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access.

Examine art and artifacts to learn about the experience of Japanese Americans forcibly removed from their homes and quickly moved to temporary detention centers, often referred to by the euphemistic term “assembly centers.” Lesson developed by JANM Education staff and available through the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access.

This teacher’s guide was created by the JANM Education Unit for IDW Publishing to accompany the graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy co-written by George Takei.

The JANM’s education department created six lessons to complement our exhibition that reflected on the 75th anniversary of President Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066. Included as part of this packet are a number of primary source documents found in the exhibition.

This resource guide offers educational activities designed to challenge conventional assumptions about democracy in the United States, facilitate critical thinking, activate youth-to-youth dialogue, and inspire participation. It was created to support Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We, the People”?, an exhibition based on three fundamental premises: (1) We, the people, shape democracy; (2) I, too, can shape democracy; and (3) Those who have struggled for freedom and equality have extended democracy’s reach for all.

The exhibition features seven real people and traces their stories throughout the pre-World War II, World War II, and post-war periods as examples of the millions of Americans whose lives were affected by the war and how each sought equal rights for their families and communities.

Watch these short clips of JANM volunteers talking about their favorite artifacts in Common Ground: The Heart of Community.

Put a face to history by listening to first hand accounts of the lives of Japanese Americans from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Learn about the history of your own family through these introductory resources which will teach you how to preserve both artifacts and stories.

Uncover your family history with this simple memory-sharing activity! Through asking and answering questions, you’ll uncover parts of your family story you never knew.

Developed as a pre-visit resource for school visits to JANM’s core exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community.

Learn about the different camps and understand the geographic impact of camp through this detailed map created for JANM’s Enduring Communities project.

Looking for more resources on the Japanese American experience? Explore these titles adapted from JANM’s Enduring Communities project.

Adapted from JANM’s Haunting Questions: Understanding the Japanese American Experience exhibition, this short article explores why word choice is crucial in telling the story of Japanese American history.

The film adaptation of Jeanne Watatsuki Houston's noted memoir is available on DVD from the JANM Store.