JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM ANNOUNCES ADDITIONS TO BOARDS OF TRUSTEES AND GOVERNORS

Los Angeles, CA—The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) has added William T. Fujioka and Kenneth S. Hamamura to its Board of Trustees and David Nishida to its Board of Governors.

“The individual and collective accomplishments of these three men are beyond admirable,” said Norman Y. Mineta, Chair of the JANM Board of Trustees. “It’s truly a privilege to have each of them bring their expertise and perspectives to the leadership of the Japanese American National Museum, helping to guide our institution to a future even more successful than its past.”

Fujioka is a third generation Japanese American. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and first working for the City of Los Angles, he was hired by the County of Los Angeles’s Department of Personnel in 1978. Over the next 19 years, Fujioka held positions in several county departments. In 1997, Fujioka became the Director of Personnel for the City of Los Angeles and two years later, Mayor Richard Riordan appointed him to the position of City Administrative Officer. He held that position, serving under mayors Riordan, James Hahn, and Antonio Villaraigosa, until retiring in February 2007. Later that year, Fujioka reentered public service when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer for the County of Los Angeles by its Board of Supervisors. He retired from that position in 2014.

Hamamura is a retired business executive with more than 30 years of experience in the Human Resources field, including lengthy stints with Security Pacific National Bank and Fannie Mae. He served on the JANM staff as Project Director for the establishment of the museum’s National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, including the expansion and redesign of the museum’s Historic Building and construction of the Tateuchi Democracy Forum. After the completion of construction in 2005, Hamamura again retired and returned to serving as a museum volunteer, joining the museum’s Board of Governors in 2013. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University, Long Beach, and participated in advanced professional development for human resources executives through the University of Michigan’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

Nishida has over 30 years of experience in the accounting and finance industries in Japan and the United States. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Financial Officer of Hudson Japan KK, Lone Star Funds’ captive asset management company. He has also worked for Morgan Stanley and Deloitte. Nishida began his career with the accounting firm of Kenneth Leventhal and Company, which is now part of EY. A Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner, Nishida earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA. He currently serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the US-Japan Council and is a Board member of several cyber security companies.

NOW ON VIEW AT JANM:

Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo
Through February 25, 2018
Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo examines the experiences of artists of Japanese ancestry born, raised, or living in either Latin America or predominantly Latin American neighborhoods of Southern California. By looking at the work of Japanese Latin American artists, the exhibition shows how ethnic communities, racial mixing, and the concepts of homeland and cosmopolitanism inform the creativity and aesthetics of this hybrid culture. Transpacific Borderlands is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a Getty-led initiative exploring Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles, and is made possible through grants from the Getty Foundation. The presenting sponsor of PST: LA/LA is Bank of America.

Common Ground: The Heart of Community
Ongoing
Incorporating hundreds of objects, documents, and photographs collected by JANM, this exhibition chronicles 130 years of Japanese American history, from the early days of the Issei pioneers through the World War II incarceration to the present.

About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, the Japanese American National Museum 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 hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories and strives to provide a voice for Japanese Americans as well as a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public, JANM has presented over 70 exhibitions onsite and traveled 17 of its exhibitions to locations around the world, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America.

JANM is located at 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. General admission is $12 adults, $6 students and seniors, free for members and children under age five. Admission is free to everyone on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and every third Thursday of the month from noon to 8 p.m. General admission prices and free admission times may not apply to specially ticketed exhibitions. Closed Monday, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. For more information visit janm.org or call 213.625.0414.