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Closed for Renovations

JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation and will reopen in late 2026. While the museum and store are closed, join us for programs and events on our Little Tokyo campus, throughout Southern California, and beyond. 

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  • Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live!

    Sep 24, 2016

    Free admission to JANM all day! In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, JANM is offering FREE admission all day as part of the annual Museum Day Live! event.

  • "Canefield Songs: Holehole Bushi" Advance Screening and Panel Discussion

    Jul 18, 2015

    The Japanese immigrants who worked on Hawai‘i’s sugar plantations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries sang as they worked, creating a Japanese-American equivalent of "the blues." Called holehole (Hawaiian for dried cane leaves) bushi (Japanese for melody or tune), the songs are a record of the workers’ joys, sorrows, and challenges, providing a fascinating window onto early plantation life. In the ...

  • Japanese Tattoo Live Demonstrations & Lectures

    Mar 08, 2014

    Celebrate the opening of Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World with live tattooing and lectures led by the artists featured in the exhibition. LIVE TATTOO DEMONSTRATIONS ARATANI CENTRAL HALL Featured artists from the exhibition will be tattooing live, up-close-and-personal, showcasing various forms of Japanese tattooing, including tebori, a traditional Japanese hand tattooing form. Featuri...

  • Graze Little Tokyo Walk

    Jan 07, 2012

    A food centric cultural exploration of the hidden corners of Little Tokyo. This walk provides opportunities to sample local Asian food from lotus root to pounded rice while learning about the history of the neighborhood. $15 Members, $20 non-members, includes admission. Wear comfortable walking shoes.

  • An Intergenerational Book Pairing: "Making Home from War "and "My Dog Teny"

    Mar 12, 2011

    Making Home from War, edited by Brian Komei Dempster is the long-awaited sequel to the award-winning From Our Side of the Fence. Written by 13 Japanese American elders who gathered regularly at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, it is a collection of stories about their exodus from concentration camps into a world that in a few short years had drastically changed. My Dog Teny writte...

  • 'SAY CHEESE' THEME FOR TARGET FREE FAMILY SATURDAY ON MARCH 14

    Mar 04, 2009

    The popular Target Free Family Saturday series continues at the Japanese American National Museum on March 14 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the theme, "Say Cheese", with the opportunity to participate in a photo taking workshops and do hands-on craft activities for free, thanks to the generous support of Target. Among the activities available throughout the program is a photo scavenger hunt, where participants hunt ...

  • American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II

    Dec 01, 2007

    by Eric L. Muller Ever the astute researcher and engaging writer, University of North Carolina Professor of Law, Eric Muller, has written a thought provoking book that tells the story of the government bureaucracy that existed between 1943 and 1945, adjudicating which Americans of Japanese ancestry were "loyal" and which were "disloyal." Light reception to follow.

  • Living in Color

    Oct 27, 2001 - Apr 07, 2002

    This exhibition of paintings is the first retrospective survey of the art of Issei painter Hideo Date (b. 1907). Trained in Tokyo and Los Angeles, Date was an influential member of avant-garde art circles in pre-World War II Los Angeles. He belonged to the Los Angeles Art Students League and founded the self-named “Los Angeles Oriental Artists Group.” The outbreak of war took Date from the dynamic and diverse Los ...

  • More Than a Game

    Mar 04, 2000 - Feb 18, 2001

    More Than a Game: Sport in the Japanese American Community tells the story of one immigrant group through the universally popular topic of sport. From initial immigration in the late 1800s through incarceration during World War II and the triumph of the 1952 Olympics where four Japanese Americans won a total of seven medals, the exhibition reveals a unique and, often untold, perspective on how sport influenced and...

  • Dear Miss Breed

    Jan 14, 1997 - Apr 13, 1997

    "Dear Miss Breed..." the letters begin. Over 250 of them in all, these faded and creased remnants of history tell the story of young Japanese Americans incarcerated in America's World War II concentration camps and illustrate how the commitment of a single person can profoundly touch the lives of so many people. A selection of these letters to Miss Breed are featured in this virtual exhibition. In order to fully util...