Programs and Events

various
JANM on the go logo

Find JANM on the go!

We will be updating this page as more programs and events are confirmed, so please check back or follow us on social media and subscribe to our email list for updates!

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campus
democracy center building front

On JANM’s Campus

  • Oshogatsu Family Festival (January 5, 2025) and regular public programs including JANM Book Club, film screenings, and art workshops in the Tateuchi Democracy Forum and Democracy Lab in JANM’s Historic Building. 
  • The Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (Democracy Center) at JANM will remain open throughout the renovation, presenting Distinguished Lecture Series, Civic Season, The Grand Event, panel discussions, and other programs that convene people of all ages and diverse backgrounds to examine issues about race, identity, and social justice to transform attitudes, celebrate culture, and promote civic engagement.
  • Discover Nikkei, a community website and international network that brings JANM’s digital presence to a national and international audience, will celebrate its 20th anniversary and launch its ambitious new redesign with a day of family activities and workshops, a multilingual panel discussion, and a reception on February 8, 2025 in JANM’s Historic Building.
  • Pop-up displays about JANM’s collection and Japanese American history will appear in the windows of JANM’s Democracy Center
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california
3 guys crouched down by car

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, and other California Locations

  • JANM will present Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community, at the Mullin Gallery, ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, July 31, 2025 – November 12, 2025. Curated by writer and scholar Oliver Wang, this exhibition chronicles the ways the Japanese American community has fueled evolutions in car culture while also exploring the world of cars and trucks as powerful vehicles for personal expression, collective identity, and social mobility.
  • During the renovation, JANM’s Education Department will pilot a program to bring educators directly into selected classrooms in Los Angeles.
  • The Oshogatsu Family Festival, January 2026, and Natsumatsuri Family Festival, August 2025 and 2026, will take place in nearby locations to be announced. These annual festivals are vibrant and joyful celebrations that celebrate Japanese and Japanese American cultural traditions; foster understanding, appreciation, and respect for cultural diversity; and build meaningful cross-cultural bridges.
  • Join JANM at community events including the Los Angeles County Fair, AAPI Joy at the Los Angeles Public Library, Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival, and other festivals through Southern California, bringing arts and craft activities as well as innovative pop-up experiences that use technology to bring the Japanese American experience to life.
  • Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo will travel to Monterey Museum of Art in Monterey, California, February 5, 2026 – April 19, 2026, as part of its national tour before its final stop at JANM in late 2026. Curated by Dr. ShiPu Wang, the Coats Family Chair in the Arts and Professor of Art History, Department of Global Arts, Media, and Writing Studies in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts at the University of California, Merced, and commissioner of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Pictures of Belonging reveals a broader picture of the American experience by presenting artworks and life stories of three trailblazing Japanese American women of the pre–World War II generation that will be in dialogue with each other for the first time. Accompanying travel opportunities and programs for JANM Members are planned.
  • JANM, with StoryBoldly and OutsideIn Theatre, presents the national tour of David Ono’s moving live storytelling performance, Defining Courage, which tells the stories of the Nisei soldiers of World War II. Berkeley and USC are among the California stops planned for 2025 (dates to be announced).
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virtual
Virtual visits with camp survivor incarcerees

Virtual

  • Virtual field trips with JANM’s educators are offered for grades 1–12. These visits serve thousands of students in sixteen states annually, and educators will continue to bring these crucial online lessons about American history into classrooms in Los Angeles and beyond.
  • Virtual tours for adult groups are available along with History Unpacked, a new virtual DEI program for businesses based on lessons learned from the experiences of the World War II incarceration.
  • Published in English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese, Discover Nikkei’s content includes contributions from hundreds of community members in over fifty countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Mexico, and Peru. The site will unveil new features to further engage online communities in 2025 and offer a regular array of virtual live programs.
  • Regular videos and virtual programs will give sneak peeks into the progress of the renovation and the development of the new core exhibition.
  • The JANM Store extends JANM’s mission through its distinctive selection of books, films, toys, and exclusive products that celebrate and honor Japanese American history. While the in-person Store will be closed during renovation, its popular catalog and online store, janmstore.com, will be available throughout JANM on the Go. 
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national
ireicho and sotoba homepage feature

Across the United States

  • Since its installation at JANM in September 2022, The Ireichō: Sacred Book of Names has become a site of pilgrimage for families from around the world who have come to JANM to memorialize the more than 125,000 people of Japanese descent who were unjustly incarcerated by the United States during World War II. The Ireichō exhibition at JANM ends December 1, 2024, and JANM will partner with The Irei Project and USC’s Duncan Ryuken Williams to travel the book in conjunction with pilgrimages to a number of former War Relocation Authority, Department of Justice, and Wartime Civil Control Administration incarceration sites.
  • Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo will travel to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC (November 24, 2024 – August 15, 2025) and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia (September 2025 – December 2025)
  • In 2026, Emily Anderson, curator of the forthcoming exhibition Eating Together: Food in Japanese America will share her research and expertise with other Japanese American organizations in pop-up events that explore the Nikkei food traditions in their communities. Cities will include Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado; and other locations. The exhibition will come to JANM in 2026–7 with an array of public programs created in partnership with the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. 
  • In 2025 and 2026, Defining Courage will be presented in cities to include Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon.
  • Screenings of films by JANM’s Watase Media Arts Center will include Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement at college and university campuses across the country; the forthcoming documentary Third Act at festival in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and Houston; and a selection of films at the Japan Society in New York.
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japan
hisako hibi painting of laundry room in camp

Japan