Japanese American National Museum

10/01/2026

Visit JANM's booth at Honda-Ya Tustin's Charity Japanese Festival this Sunday! FREE for all to attend.

10/01/2026

October is . We’re thrilled to be joining our friends at One Institute (One Institute) for , the country’s first and only q***r history festival. From October 1-31, celebrate the trailblazing history and culture of q***r and trans folks with over 40 programs happening at venues all across Los Angeles.
Mark your calendars for our program:
🌈Everything in This House is Gay (and Asian) Film Series
🗓️ Thursday, Oct. 15-Thursday, Oct 22
📍JANM

The title of this series comes from a scene in “The Wedding Banquet” in which the central cast runs around pulling down artwork and hiding books that might be “too q***r” before the unexpected arrival of a parent. In a moment of panic and frustration, one of the characters screams, “everything in this house is gay!” This series invites you into three very different, but very gay “houses” for a bite of cinematic Asian American history.

🎟️ Get tickets at: CircaFestival.org

09/24/2026

Join a special daylong program that examines Sansei intergenerational trauma and the enduring effects of the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. Featuring film screenings and a panel discussion, this program explores how the incarceration experience affected Nisei survivors and the subsequent generation of Sansei.

Emmy Award–winning journalist Wendy Tokuda will host and moderate the program, which includes documentary films by Janice Tanaka, Janice D. Tanaka, and Satsuki Ina. The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers, who will be joined by Ron Wakabayashi and the Co-Executive Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center Little Tokyo Service Center, Peter Gee. Together they will explore how the incarceration experience affected Nisei survivors and the subsequent generation of Sansei.

Saturday, September 26
10 am-3:30 pm

Get tickets at the link in bio!

(This program is sponsored by the George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and Keiro.)

09/24/2026

JANM announces today that George Takei and Brad Takei have pledged to gift their estate, currently valued at over $21 million, to the Museum. This future gift ensures that the Takeis’ passion for JANM will continue to endure for years to come. In recognition of their support, the new, 9200-square-foot gallery space of JANM’s core exhibition, "In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Forging Democracy," will bear their names.

Read our full announcement: https://www.janm.org/press/release/janm-announces-promised-gift-21-million-estate-george-takei-and-brad-takei

09/10/2026

Thank you Rina Nakano CBS LA! After two years of renovation, we look forward to welcoming our visitors back to JANM

After a two-year renovation project, the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo announced it will reopen its doors in January.

09/10/2026

Celebrate Japanese heritage at Angel Stadium on Friday, September 18 with food trucks, DJ, vendor booths, Japanese Heritage Angels Jersey, and more!

A portion of every ticket purchased will go towards JANM.

Get tickets: https://www.mlb.com/angels/tickets/specials/japan

09/09/2026

JANM commends Lonnie G. Bunch III, who today announced his retirement as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for his leadership in the museum field, his commitment to exploring the full complexity and diversity of US history, and his courageous work to uphold truth and professional standards in the face of the current administration’s ongoing efforts to undermine the Smithsonian and museums nationwide. At the same time, JANM decries the administration’s attempts to reshape Smithsonian museums to conform to its prescribed historical interpretation of history and to remove diverse voices and stories.

“Lonnie Bunch is an exceptional leader who has shown unbelievable courage in the museum field throughout his three decade career. His work as founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and his advocacy as Secretary to advance the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino leave a lasting legacy: a vision in which all American stories are valued, honored, and shared. We applaud his strength as a voice for truth, scholarship, and professional excellence through nearly two years of ugly, unjust attacks on the Smithsonian. Museums must be places of truth, where we learn and confront the complexity of our nation’s histories–its triumphs and its mistakes. We must all continue to stand against government efforts to erase, censor, or politicize that history.” said Ann Burroughs, President and CEO of JANM and the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.

Bunch was named the Smithsonian’s 14th secretary in June 2019, becoming the first Black American and first historian at the helm of the institution. He was previously the founding director of the African American History and Culture Museum, and had worked as a curator at the American History Museum and an education specialist at the National Air and Space Museum earlier in his career, totaling more than three decades of service at the Smithsonian. (Bunch also led the Chicago History Museum, a non-Smithsonian organization, from 2000 to 2005.)

09/01/2026

Join JANM and the Nikkei Genealogical Society for a special program unearthing the history of Japanese gardens and legendary gardeners in Southern California. Weaving in family history and the broader theme of Japanese American resilience, moderator Paul Mori will lead a conversation with panelists Kendall “Ken” Brown, Terri Clay, and Jeff Sczechowski, followed by a Q&A.

Saturday, September 5
2 p.m.–3:30 p.m. PDT

https://www.janm.org/events/2026-09-05/unearthing-history-japanese-american-resilience-southern-california-gardens

08/21/2026

JANM is reopening on January 23, 2027!!!

"We look forward to welcoming visitors from around the world to a Pavilion transformed by powerful storytelling, immersive installations, and new technology that connects the stories of the Japanese American community to the urgent issues facing all of us today. These new spaces and experiences will deepen our ability to fulfill our mission, share our extraordinary collection, serve as a beacon for civil rights, and activate memory and the arts to shape a more just and hopeful future, one that inspires, educates, and connects generations to come."

—Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO

Read our full announcement: https://www.janm.org/press/release/janm-sets-reopening-date-january-23-2027