JANM and MOMAW Present Transnational Symposium on January 18, 2025

Editor’s note: JANM’s Pavilion to close for renovation on January 5, 2025; programs will continue on the JANM campus and at other locations at janm.org/OnTheGo. 

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) and the Museum of Modern Art Wakayama (MOMAW) will present the transnational symposium, Transbordering: From Wakayama to California, beginning at 1p.m. on Saturday, January 18, 2025. The symposium will take place in-person at JANM as well as virtually. Registration is free and available online at janm.org/events.

MOMAW is one of Japan’s leading art museums and is the fifth oldest modern art museum in Japan. MOMAW has continuously conducted research on prewar Japanese artists from Wakayama who settled in the US and has been focusing on the Prefecture’s emigration history to contextualize the history of art on a larger scale. JANM, located in the Los Angeles Little Tokyo community, is a Smithsonian Affiliate with programming that reaches across the nation and globally. The Museum houses the largest repository of Japanese American history and culture, including items from Wakayama Prefecture and other parts of Japan, and is also considered a center for civil rights.

Both museums joined hands with the monumental exhibition, Transbordering: Migration and Art Across Wakayama and the USA, which featured prewar art scenes highlighting several artists from Wakayama, connecting the narrative to the Japanese and Japanese American communities mainly on the West Coast. The exhibition is part of a three-year research project about Japanese immigrant artists from Wakayama which also includes education curriculum and this transnational symposium.

This symposium will bring together scholars from the US and Japan to discuss transpacific migration and the preservation of Nikkei history. The event will begin with opening remarks from Kristen Hayashi of JANM and Kanae Aoki and Iichiro Okumura of MOMAW. The symposium will feature two sessions, Transpacific Migration and Cultural Connections, followed by Preserving Nikkei History in Wakayama. It will be presented in English in person and English and Japanese virtually.

“This symposium continues the conversation and uncovers new research about the exhibition that connects prewar Japanese artists’ accomplishments to two important places that they called home. We are pleased to join hands again as sister museums to connect our collective pasts with the power of these places and explore new avenues of Nikkei history together,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 100 exhibitions onsite while traveling 40 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM’s Pavilion will close for renovation on January 5, 2025 and programs will continue on the JANM campus and at other locations at janm.org/OnTheGo. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.