JANM Book Club Series Returns August 3

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) announces the lineup of authors for the summer and fall 2024 JANM Book Club, a public program series that highlights new publications by Japanese Americans or related to Japanese American history and culture. The featured authors are Gregg Jones, traci kato-kiriyama, Christine Kitano, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Matthew Mejia, Denice Kumagai-Hoy, Marilyn Tokuda, and Frank Abe. Tickets for in-person programs from August–November are $16 ($9 for seniors and students, free to JANM Members) and will be available at janm.org/events.

Upcoming dates and authors are:

Saturday, August 3, 2024
Most Honorable Son with Gregg Jones
2 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

Gregg Jones will discuss Most Honorable Son: A Forgotten Hero’s Fight Against Fascism and Hate During World War II. The book is the first comprehensive biography of Japanese American World War II hero Ben Kuroki. It includes a foreword by Naomi Ostwald Kawamura, executive director of Densho; an introduction by William T Fujioka, chair of the JANM Board of Trustees; and an afterword by Jonathan Eig, recipient of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Martin Luther King Jr. Most Honorable Son will be available for purchase at the JANM Store.

Thursday, August 22, 2024
Nikkei Uncovered IV: a poetry reading
6 p.m.–7:30 p.m. PDT (Virtual)
Free and open to all; ticket required to receive Zoom link

A powerful lineup of poets from Discover Nikkei’s Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column will come together for Discover Nikkei’s fourth annual virtual poetry reading. Hosted by traci kato-kiriyama, author of Navigating With(out) Instruments, the featured poets are Christine Kitano, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, and Matthew Mejia.

Saturday, September 7, 2024
Cold Tofu, The Early Years 1981–1998
2 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

Denice Kumagai-Hoy and Marilyn Tokuda, will discuss their new book, Cold Tofu, The Early Years 1981-1998: The World's First Asian American Improv Comedy Group, that is filled with photographs, a timeline, and quotes from former castmates, board members, and others. Hosted by Dom Magwili, the authors and former members of Cold Tofu Improv will be joined in conversation with performers Amy Hill, Geoff Rivas, and Joey Miyashima. Cold Tofu The Early Years 1981–1998 is available for purchase at the JANM Store.

Saturday, October 12, 2024
Literature of Japanese American Incarceration with Frank Abe
2 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

Frank Abe will discuss Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, an anthology that recovers and reframes the literature produced by former incarcerees and their descendants. From nearly seventy selections of fiction, poetry, essays, memoirs, and letters emerges a shared story of the struggle to retain personal integrity in the face of increasing dehumanization. The book is available for purchase at the JANM Store.

Saturday, November 2, 2024
Letters to Home: Art and Writing by LGBTQ+ Nikkei and Allies
2 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

Letters to Home: Art and Writing by LGBTQ+ Nikkei and Allies is an anthology of essays, autobiographies, poems, portraits, and performances that are silent meditations with absent loved ones. These works respond to the important role of storytelling and personal reflection that appears to play in Japanese diasporic communities often engaging the very people to whom the authors most desperately wish to speak.

Sunday, December 1, 2024 
Seattle Samurai: A Cartoonist’s Perspective of the Japanese American Experience
Time: To be determined

The JANM Store will feature Seattle Samurai: A Cartoonist’s Perspective of the Japanese American Experience as part of the annual Museum Store Sunday. From 2012–2018, Sam Goto drew over 250 multi-paneled Seattle Tomodachi (“friend of Seattle”) comic strips for The North American Post. Design researcher and Goto’s daughter, Kelly, reflects on her father’s legacy as she brings his witty and wise perspective back to life in this collection. The book will be released on October 24, 2024. The December 1 Book Club is part of Museum Store Sunday, the annual event encouraging holiday shopping in museum stores nationwide.

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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 is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and on Thursday from 12 p.m.–8 p.m. JANM is free every third Thursday of the month. On all other Thursdays, JANM is free from 5 p.m.–8 p.m. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.