The Yuki family meeting up for a photo during the Silent Auction. (Photo by Tracy Kumono)
The Gala was a big hit, with over 1,000 guests. The Dinner program, themed Vision, Values, Voices, included a special tribute to U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye during the live Bid for Education. Senator Inouye was an early supporter of the Museum who influenced the creation of several major educational programs including the Bid for Education and the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.
JANM President/CEO G.W. Kimura and Gordon Yamate, Chair of the Board of Trustees on stage at the Gala. (Photo by Tracy Kumono)
Our annual Gala is our major fundraiser for the year, made possible by the ongoing support of our many dedicated donors. The funds we raise through the event helps to continue the innovative work that we do throughout the year.
Volunteer photographer Tracy Kumono has graciously created a slide show of photos from the evening along with posting the complete set of her photos on her website. Guests may order individual prints by clicking the “Add to Cart” button on Tracy’s website.
JANM President/CEO G.W. Kimura and Gala Dinner Co-Chair Tammie Kanda of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. with the winners of this year's Lexus Opportunity Drawing. (Photo by Russell Kitagawa)
We thank Toyota for their generous support and to all who participated in the 2013 Lexus Opportunity Drawing. Gary and Tomi Kobara of Arroyo Grande, CA, are the new owners of a 2013 Lexus LS 460 F sport sedan. Thanks especially to Toyota for contributing the Lexus for the drawing and for their generous ongoing support! Proceeds from the Lexus Opportunity Drawing support the Museum’s educational and outreach programs.
Wondering about the meaning behind the scrolls of hair in Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter? Interested in learning more about art?
Chinese-born artist Hong Zhang will be leading a gallery talk about her work in Portraiture Now at 1pm on Sunday, July 28. Her soft, yet subtly detailed charcoal works represent themes such as familial bonds and life’s twists and turns.
Zhang received her BFA in Chinese painting from the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1994, before coming to America in 1996. She has an MFA from the University of California, Davis, and now resides in Lawrence, Kansas.
Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter displays the diversity of contemporary Asian American identity through the groundbreaking work of seven visual artists—CYJO, Zhang Chun Hong, Hye Yeon Nam, Shizu Saldamando, Roger Shimomura, Satomi Shirai, and Tam Tran. The exhibition will close September 22, 2013.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear an acclaimed artist discuss her work! The talk is free with Museum admission.
The Japanese American National Museum is lucky enough to have a group of very dedicated volunteers supporting the institution every day by helping our visitors in the galleries, leading tours for thousands of school children, and at public programs; and behind-the-scenes with our archives, store, web, and other areas. Each volunteer cheerfully does their part to support the National Museum.
We celebrate the contributions of our volunteers each year at the Volunteer Recognition Awards. On May 18, 2013, we honored several volunteers who went that extra mile in 2012. It was a tough choice. In January through December of 2012, National Museum Volunteers contributed a total of 34,500 hours! Ten volunteers alone each clocked over 500 hours of service in 2012.
Past and present Miki Tanimura Award recipients with Greg Kimura, President/CEO.
At the event, we make an effort to appreciate all of our volunteers, whether they’ve been with us for one year or twenty-five.
One Year Volunteer Service Pins were given to Peter Fuster, Kyle Honma, Galaxy Kaji, Russell Kitagawa, Oko Sakata, and Sally Yamada.
Five Year pins went to Tami Hirai, Nana Imaizumi, Roy Kakuda, Frank Omatsu, Fujiko Takeda, and Mary Yamasaki.
Ten Year pins were given to John Kawasaki, Leland Kurisu, Yuri Matsunaga, Nobuko Shiokari, Jeanne Sultan, James Uyeda, and Midori Uyeda.
For fifteen years of service, we awarded pins to May Fujino, Kathryn Madara, and Eleanor Minami.
Recipients of the Twenty Year pins pose at the annual Recognition Awards Event with Board Member Gene Kanamori and JANM President/CEO Greg Kimura.
Twenty Year pins went to Linda Fujioka, Jean Hamamoto, Grace Hatae, Bambi Horiuchi, Joyce Inouye, Sumi Iwasaki, Barbara Keimi, Ruthie Kitagawa, and Sadako Sogioka.
Finally, for an astounding Twenty-Five years of service, pins were awarded to Joe and Marion Wada!
Next, Outstanding Volunteer Awards were given to those who have gone above and beyond in their dedication to the National Museum.
Administration Award: Outstanding service & achievement in administrative/operational capacity
Lauren Nakasuji has been an asset to the Museum store since 1998, volunteering at least twice a month alongside her full-time “regular” job. In addition to working at the store sales table for public programs and taking a vacation day to help with the annual store inventory, she trains new staff and volunteers.
Ken Nakagawa was given the Community Award for his work in the Hirasaki National Resource Center.
Community Award: Outstanding service & achievement in working with the public and in the community
Ken Nakagawa has spent many Saturdays in the Hirasaki National Resource Center and has assisted in scheduling and training new volunteers to assist our visitors. While working in the resource center, he helps visitors find information such as camp and immigration records.
Tsuneo "T" Takasugi shows his Outstanding Volunteer Program Award alongside Greg Kimura.
Program Award: Outstanding service & achievement in educating our visitors
Saturday lead docent volunteer Tsuneo “T” Takasugi has been a Museum volunteer for over 12 years. He has shown great dedication to volunteering—even coming in after performing surgery all night on several occasions.
Miki Tanimura Outstanding Volunteer Award: Established to honor outstanding volunteers who have made exceptional contributions to the National Museum
Roy Sakamoto received the 2012 Miki Tanimura Outstanding Volunteer Award.
Finally, the Miki Tanimura Award is given to a volunteer who exemplifies several values, including enduring commitment and leadership. These award winners have changed the museum for the better.
Roy Sakamoto is one such difference maker. Since he began volunteering in 2005, he has dedicated over 250 hours per year to his work at the Museum in many different areas. He volunteers every Wednesday and Saturday as a docent in addition to training new volunteers as a Docent Coach, a program vital to the Museum. Roy has served as the Chair of the Volunteer Leadership Council and also helps teach the Japanese American history training courses, alongside countless other activities. It is this willingness to always help out and his knack for problem solving that make Roy an asset to the Museum.
Congratulations to all of our winners, and thank you again to all of the volunteers who make this Museum special!
Photos courtesy of Russell Kitagawa & Tsuneo Takasugi
Summer is almost here, and you know what that means – no school, warm weather, and most importantly, the Summer Fun Target Free Family Saturday at the Museum!
Photo by Reid Shimabukuro
Join us this Saturday, June 8, from 11AM to 4PM to kick off the season right.
There’s a whole range of fun activities planned for kids, from story time to making tasty trail mix with Kidding Around the Kitchen. Older audience members will be fascinated by Heroes, storyteller Alton Chung’s one-man play about the courageous actions of Japanese American soldiers during World War II. We’ll also help you celebrate some summer holidays with a few crafts. Come make friendship bracelets for Best Friend’s Day and fun Father’s Day cards in the Origami Corner.
Finally, don’t miss the last few days of the American Heroes exhibition! This is a great chance to see a Congressional Gold Medal up close and personal. The medal — America’s highest civilian award — was given to the U.S. Army’s 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service for bravely serving their country even as many of their families were interned.
Look! Evan has a new wooden harmonica and cardboard guitar!
Evan makes noise. Um, I mean, Evan makes music.
Don’t you want to be noisy… um, I mean, musical just like Evan?
Good news! You can! Come on down to the Museum this Saturday for our March Target Free Family Saturday. (March 9th). We’re ready to celebrate music with fun performances and lots of opportunities to make some noise! On the crafty side of things we’ll be making harmonicas and stringed instruments just like Evan’s.
There will be a drum circle for you to join and performances by the Turath Ensemble, who will perform traditional Middle Eastern music and drumming. A family day favorite, TAIKOPROJECT will perform as well. We’re all set for a JANM jam so come join us.
On top of all this musical excitement, we are also so excited to welcome our friend Sonya from the Arab American National Museum (AANM) in Dearborn, Michigan. One of our current exhibitions, Patriots and Peacemakers: Arab Americans in Service to ourCountrycomes to us from AANM. Sonya will be leading tours of the exhibition throughout the day with a special talk at 1:30.
Hope to see you!
Special thanks to Evan for such a dynamic demonstration of what fun we will have on Saturday. He deserves an award for being a good sport.
Supernatural: The Art of Audrey Kawasaki, Edwin Ushiro, and Timothy Teruo Watters opens this Saturday!
The exhibition features the work of Audrey Kawasaki, Edwin Ushiro, and Timothy Teruo Watters—artists who have explored some of these otherworldly concepts, illustrating how traditional ideas have evolved and been adapted over time.
The exhibition will be up from February 9 – March 17, 2013. That’s just 5 weeks to come check it out before it closes!
We are celebrating the opening with two FREE events!
TARGET FREE FAMILY SATURDAY Art from the Heart
11AM – 4PM FREE ALL DAY!
Celebrate Valentine’s Day and the opening of Supernatural exhibition! Show your love by making art for yourself and others. Participate in art workshops with Timothy Watters and Edwin Ushiro!
Supernatural Opening Party
6:30PM – 9PM FREE!
Get mystical with JANM! Celebrate the opening of Supernatural with the artists and some spooky fun—wandering ghosts, a medium, and special treats!
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Learn more about the exhibition and the artists on our Discover Nikkei website. We’ll be adding an interview with Timothy Watters next week:
Thanks to everyone who joined us to celebrate the New Year & the Year of the Snake!
Over 2,800 came throughout the day for our 2013 Oshogatsu Family Festival on Sunday, January 6th to enjoy free crafts, performances & food.
Thanks so much to our volunteer photographers who captured all the fun—Caroline Jung, Russell Kitagawa, Daryl Kobayashi, Richard Murakami, and Tsuneo Takasugi.
Here’s a selection of the many, many photos they took to document the day!
(Click on the images to see the full photos)
Multigenerational family fun at Oshogatsu Family Festival
Having fun with zodiac animal & snake crafts
Cute girl & her paper snake
Decorating her animal zodiac wreath
A family pose proudly with their paper snakes
A very focused little girl…coloring is serious business!
Families having fun together with crafts
It was great to see so many extended families celebrating the New Year at JANM!
The Omikuji ladies with fortunes & wishes for the New Year!
Selecting a lucky wish from the box
Ever resourceful, our Christmas tree became our Omikuji Wish Tree for the day!
Ruthie Kitagawa & her assistants taught visitors how to fold origami snakes
Learning how to fold origami snakes
Lots of smiling faces to be seen all day!
Zaru soba noodles with Kidding Around the Kitchen. Yum!
Chowing down on zaru soba noodles!
Varied reactions from these girls, but the zaru soba is not only healthy, but a lucky dish too!
Shaun Ichiyanagi, the “Candyman,” wowed the crowds as he made snake & other sculpture candy.
Lots of lucky kids were able to win candy sculptures to take home
A family shows off their candy sculptures
JANM Volunteer Bob Moriguchi with Shaun the Candyman and his reward for being his assistant for the day!
Wonder what was so surprising? Was he amazed by Shaun the Candyman?
A boy assists Sonoko Sakai by fanning the sushi rice for the rice tasting sponsored by Common Grains & JRE
Young ones taking a break from the crafts and activities with some play time in the Toddler Room
Face painting was another popular activity
Some opted to get their animals painted on their arms
Sandee Hashimoto took a break from volunteering to pose with her family
Hal Keimi is a long-time JANM volunteer who leads interactive taiko demonstrations for school tours throughout the year. He led 2 taiko sessions at Oshogatsu Family Festival
Hands-on taiko lessons!
Playing the taiko with a little help
Watching little kids have fun with taiko
A future taiko master?
Kodama Taiko did two Mochitsuki performances & demonstrations
Kodama Taiko’s very energetic & entertaining Mochitsuki performance
Kids got to try pounding mochi too!
Pounding mochi with the kine (wooden mallet)
Yoisho!
Reptacular Animals were on hand with a reptile petting zoo!
This boy doesn’t look too sure about the snake
There were also assorted lizards on hand
Tortoises too!
Sonoko Sakai with Suzy Nakamura, one of the Onigiri Design Contest winners
For more Oshogatsu Family Festival photos, including from the Onigiri Design Contest, check out our photo album on our JANM Facebook page >>
Scene from JANM’s 2008 National Conference in Denver. Photo by Tracy Kumono.
We are so excited that it is finally 2013… because our fourth national conference is just 6 months away! We hope that you and your family will join us.
Register before January 31 to receive the early bird rate for JANM’s 2013 National Conference, “Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, and Dignity.” If you register now, you will not only save money, but there are still spaces available for the trips to Bainbridge Island (bus tour) and/or the International District (bus tour and/or walking tour).
Giant Robot Biennale 3 closed this past Sunday but not without some cool happenings. As part of what we called Giant Robot Artists’ Entourage, some of the GRB3 artists came to teach their techniques and share a bit about their art making process.
Eric Nakamura, Albert Reyes, Saelee Oh, and Rob Sato, were super-generous with their creativity and led several great art making workshops and discussions. On Saturday we concluded the GR Entourage program with a watercolor workshop by Rob Sato.
Rob Sato demonstrating a watercolor masking technique
In addition to the public workshops, a major part of Giant Robot Artists’ Entourage was a series of workshops for high school students. The result was a display of work that was produced during the workshops AND as an added bonus, last Friday a group of students from our neighbors at Mendez Learning Center came by for a visit! This great group of people included two of the Entourage participants who helped lead their teachers and fellow students through the GRB3 exhibition and the display of their work. It was the perfect way to continue the learning and conversation.
Big thanks to all the artists who shared with us and to the students and teachers from Mendez Learning Center and The Los Angeles School of Global Studies. We had a great time with you all!
Support for the Giant Robot Entourage program is provided by the National Endowment of the Arts.
Eric Nakamura and students viewing the custom figures in the Project Remix showAfter going through the galleries with Eric, students had a chance to customize their own Big Boss Robot.
Looking at Saelee Oh's work in the galleries with SaeleeSaelee Oh demonstrating her cutout process
Albert Reyes teaching an image transfer technique
Students in the galleries discuss Ako Castuera's work.
Display of student artwork created during workshops with Eric Nakamura, Saelee Oh, and Albert Reyes.
Many thanks to Richard Murakami and Gary Ono for taking photographs to document the workshops!
There are just 10 days left to come see (or see again!) the Giant Robot Biennale 3 exhibition before it closes on Sunday, January 20!
Come celebrate another successful Biennale at the GRB3 Closing Party on Thursday, January 17 from 6pm – 10pm (THAT’S NEXT WEEK!) with Giant Robot, JANM’s Young Professionals Network, and many of the artists from the exhibition.
For information about the exhibition, artist bios, images, videos, and more, visit janm.org/grb3.
JANM Young Professionals Network
The Young Professionals Network (YPN) furthers the mission of the Museum through philanthropic and social activities by connecting people in their 20s, 30s and 40s with a diverse and professional network that supports the growth of the Japanese American community. It provides young professionals with opportunities for community building, volunteering, fundraising, outreach and engagement. The YPN is governed by the New Leadership Advisory Council (NLAC) of the Japanese American National Museum.
