Category: News & Announcements

Farewell from Akemi Kikumura Yano

Akemi Kikumura Yano 1 Comment

After more than three years as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Japanese American National Museum, I have reached my last day in that position with a sense of gratitude and pride. Over the years, I have witnessed the Museum’s remarkable growth and maturity and I am confident that I am leaving it in good hands with a strong foundation.

My feeling of gratitude extends to all of the Museum’s supporters, volunteers, staff and leadership, who have built that foundation over the last quarter of a century. As the Board of Trustees continues the process to select a new CEO, I feel strongly that the Museum will not miss a beat since the Trustees appointed Nancy Araki, Director of Community Affairs, and Miyoko Oshima, Chief Operating Officer, as interim co-Executive Directors. Soon, a new head of the Museum will be chosen and a new era will begin, one that I feel holds enormous promise and possibilities.

For me personally, there are many projects that I have yearned to pursue for some time, but could not because of the demands of my former position. Most of these ideas were formed during my years as a curator and a program director at the Museum, and I feel the time to bring them to fruition is now. As such, I begin my own new era today.

I have been honored to serve the Japanese American National Museum in different capacities and to work together with a host of talented and dedicated individuals. While I am moving on to other things, there will always be a part of me here at the Japanese American National Museum.

Sincerely,

AKEMI KIKUMURA YANO
President & CEO

For more information, go to:
www.janm.org/press/release/297/

2011 Lexus winner Karen Nakawatase with Tammie Kanda of Toyota

2011 Lexus Opportunity Drawing Winner!

Darryl Mori Leave a comment
Congratulations to Karen Nakawatase of Fountain Valley, CA, winner of the 2011 Lexus Opportunity Drawing! Nakawatase was the recipient of a new Lexus RX450h hybrid, courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Her winning ticket was drawn on April 16, 2011, at the Japanese American National Museum’s annual Gala Dinner & Silent Auction in Los Angeles. Nakawatase (left) is pictured here with Tammie Kanda of Toyota (right).
2011 Lexus winner Karen Nakawatase with Tammie Kanda of Toyota
Photo by Nobuyuki Okada
Thank you to everyone who supported the drawing, which raised more than $120,000 in donations to support diversity education programs at the Japanese American National Museum.

Baseball survey–earn a chance to win tickets to a game!

Vicky Murakami-Tsuda Leave a comment

A grad student needs help with her research. She’s seeking Dodger fans to participate in an online survey and paid focus group. She’s been having problems getting enough Asian American representation in her study, so if you qualify, please help her out!

Hello. My name is Jen and I am looking for hometown Dodger fans (22 and up) who are willing to share their thoughts in a paid focus group. The goals of the focus group are to find out what qualities you think make professional athletes successful or unsuccessful in different roles within the sport of baseball and to find out how you describe and tell stories about these baseball players. You don’t need to be a superfan and know every single detail about the Dodgers, but you should be someone who follows the team more or less throughout most parts of the season.  (It is okay if you have more than one favorite team, as long as you also follow the Dodgers). You also need to be living in Los Angeles OR the L.A. metropolitan area.

If you are interested, fill out the form on the attached link. If you are eligible, you will be contacted to participate in one focus group sometime in August. The group will last 1-2 hours. You will compensated $20 cash for time/travel. Furthermore, each participant will be entered into a raffle to win their choice of $200 cash or Field Level seats to a home game in September.  This is a great chance to earn a little cash talking baseball!

LINK TO REGISTER: http://www.tinyurl.com/dodgerfansurvey

Please email jennifer.mcgovern@temple.edu if you have any questions.

**I am an independent researcher interested in sports, sports media, and fan narratives. This research is not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the Dodgers**  This information is approved by Temple University for public display and is associate with project #13468

 

Help us with a survey!

Vicky Murakami-Tsuda Leave a comment

This fall, the Japanese American National Museum is participating in Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, a project initiated from grants from the Getty Foundation. Pacific Standard Time is a collaboration of more than fifty cultural institutions across Southern California, which are coming together for six months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world. Each institution will make its own contribution to this grand-scale story of artistic innovation and social change, told through a multitude of simultaneous exhibitions and programs.

The Museum will open its new exhibition, Drawing the Line: Japanese American Art, Design & Activism in Pos-War L.A., with an opening event on Saturday, October 15, 2011 (more details to come!). Drawing the Line will feature works of art and design that give a sense of the complex role of cultural production in the creation of community in Japanese American Los Angeles.

All of the partners in this ground-breaking collaboration have been asked to issue a survey to its members and supporters in preparation for this project. The survey will collect general responses on attitudes about arts and culture in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California.

The questionnaire will take about 10-15 minutes to complete and your responses are confidential. The survey closes September 1st. Thank you!

Take the survey online >>

Today’s Groupon: Discount on our Tea Fest!

Keiko Doi Leave a comment

I was excited to see today’s Groupon discounts for our very own Chado Tea Room! There are three options:

  • For $10, you get two tickets to the first annual Los Angeles Tea Festival on August 13 and 14 (a $20 value).
  • For $30, you get afternoon tea for two people and $25 worth of loose-leaf tea (a $61 value).
  • For $48, you get afternoon tea for four people and $25 worth of loose-leaf tea (a $97 value).

Have you been to our Chado Tea Room? It is a wonderfully civilized place to have Afternoon Tea. A hidden gem. I love it!

Well, I just wanted to point out these fabulous deals, especially the discounted tickets to the Tea Fest in conjunction with our Saturday, Aug 13 Summer Festival — our most popular event of the year! — just in case there are a few rare JANM blog readers out there who do not get the Groupon alerts. The Chado Groupon is available until the end of day Saturday July 30th!

Chado Groupon Deal >>

Mike Shinoda’s Labbit Auction is over!

Maria Kwong Leave a comment

After many check-ins last night where the bid was stuck at $510, I finally decided to call it quits and go to bed.

I woke up in the middle of the night and was plagued by work thoughts, but didn’t sneak in to check the computer and risk waking the household with whoops of excitement. It was like waiting for Christmas morning and it was worth it to see that the final bid was $721.00!

Again, thanks to Mike Shinoda, proceeds benefit JANM & Music for Relief/Japan Relief.

 

Next auction starts August 1, with Kip Fulbeck’s ingenious ikebana Labbit entitled, “More than the Sum of Our Parts.”

I have been enjoying the opportunity to create flower arrangements every few days. It’s a nice way to start your day…contemplating art and beauty.

Check the janm.org page for a schedule of the upcoming auctions >>

Check janmstore.com to view all of the Labbits >> 

Museums Matter Night at Dodger Stadium

Go Dodgers! Museums Matter Night at Dodger Stadium

Vicky Murakami-Tsuda Leave a comment

Come celebrate museums & cheer on the hometown Dodgers at Museums Matter Night at Dodger Stadium!

Museums Matter Night at Dodger Stadium

Join JANM and other participating museums at Dodger Stadium on Friday, August 26. Special discounted prices available for variety of stadium seating sections. Click on the link below for prices & to order tickets.

Game against the Colorado Rockies starts at 7:10pm. Stay for fireworks following the game!

Museums Matter Night info & tickets >>

Download the PDF flyer (2 MB) >>

 

Shigetoshi Hasegawa Baseball fans…we also have a program on Saturday, July 23 at 11am:

How to Succeed in Baseball

Shigetoshi Hasegawa (former pitcher for the Angels & Mariners) and Scott Akasaki (traveling secretary for the Dodgers) will be at JANM next Saturday to talk about how they were able to succeed in baseball. It’s free, so come check it out!

Discover Nikkei Survey

JANM Interns Leave a comment

Hello beautiful people!

My name is Maya Kochiyama and I am the new Discover Nikkei intern this summer at the Japanese American National Museum through the Nikkei Community Internship program.  I am entering my junior year at UC Berkeley as an Integrative Biology major.

As part of the Discover Nikkei staff, I would cordially like to invite you to take our Discover Nikkei Survey!

We are conducting this survey in hopes of learning more about the diverse array of Nikkei communities around the world.  The results from this survey will be analyzed and presented at the XVI COPANI (Conventions of the Association of Pan American Nikkei) Discover Nikkei Conference in Cancun, Mexico in September.

It’s a quick and easy 10-minute survey that may even get you thinking about your own cultural identity.

Here are the links to check it out!

ENGLISH:  http://5dn.org/copanisurvey-en
日本語:   http://5dn.org/copanisurvey-ja
ESPAÑOL:    http://5dn.org/copanisurvey-es
PORTUGUÊS:   http://5dn.org/copanisurvey-pt

If you have any questions, you can email editor@discovernikkei.org or contact me at mkochiyama@earthlink.net.

The last day to submit the survey is July 25th!

Thanks so much!  We greatly appreciate your support! 🙂

Public Invited for Update on Regional Connector Plans

Koji Steven Sakai Leave a comment

On June 29 at 6:30 pm, JANM will host a public meeting about the new regional connector plan here in Little Tokyo (Los Angeles).

From Blog Downtown:

“Little Tokyo, the community that had been most vocal during Regional Connector planning, got a preview of changes to its part of the rail line in January. The refined 1st and Alameda station takes up only half the space of the previous design, fitting into the northern half of the block bounded by 1st, Alameda, 2nd and Central. More importantly, it creates a gentle curve onto 2nd Street that could allow Metro to use open land at 1st and Alameda to insert the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) needed for construction of the underground line.”

To read the full article, go to: http://blogdowntown.com/2011/06/6281-public-invited-for-update-on-regional-connector