JANUARY 2021
Join us to be inspired, educated, and engaged! JANM From Home is about connection and content.

Catch up on the online programs, presentations, and resources you might have missed and see whats upcoming!

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OSHOGATSU VIRTUAL FAMILY FESTIVAL
January 3-8
Join JANM for a week of virtual, kid-friendly activities to celebrate the New Year! From interactive, offline festivities for all ages to multi-lingual story times and play performances, welcome the Year of the Ox with JANM.

Check the event page for the festival flipbook, downloadable activities, membership raffle details, and more.
Upcoming Oshogatsu Virtual Family Festival Events
Question 27, Question 28
Thursday, Jan. 7 at 2pm (PST)
Join Artists at Play LA for a virtual performance of Question 27, Question 28, a play by Chay Yew and directed by Jully Lee about struggle, courage, and resilience during World War II. They will be presenting an abridged version which has been shortened and edited for families.
Member Exclusive: Behind the Scenes at Azay!
Friday, Jan. 8 at 1pm (PST)
Current JANM Members are invited for an exclusive, behind the scenes tour of a restaurant during the busiest holiday of the year! Azay Little Tokyo, with Chef Akira Hirose, will show the process of developing and preparing their special Oshogatsu menu. RSVPs are required.
Friday Food!
Friday, Jan. 8 at 2pm (PST)
Join us for a conversation around traditional Oshogatsu foods, like osechi-ryori and ozoni, and a space to share about your food-related traditions! Then, join special guests from local businesses and restaurants in Little Tokyo to chat about how they share Oshogatsu recipes and traditions today!
Earlier Oshogatsu Programming
2021 Oshogatsu Virtual Family Festival Kickoff!!
Kick off our week of Oshogatsu Virtual Family Festival with highlights of New Year-themed activities and an interactive overview of the week of celebration!
Oshogatsu Craft Corner: Make Your Own Ox!
Create a cute ox to celebrate the New Year using only supplies found around your house! Presented by JANM's Education Unit as part of the 2021 Oshogatsu Virtual Family Festival.
Unboxed: Mochitsuki: Shaping Good Fortune for the New Year
Explore the Japanese tradition of mochitsuki with JANM’s Director of Collections Management & Access and Curator, Kristen Hayashi. Through three collections learn the story of how returnees from America’s concentration camps celebrated the New Year while at Southern California trailer parks.
Storytime with JANM:
The Tale of Issun-boshi
Watch this multilingual storytime in English, Spanish, and Japanese! In this traditional Japanese folktale, although Issun-boshi is only one-inch tall, his bravery and wit take him on adventures both big and small!
MORE VIDEOS
A Taste of Home (Part II): Recipes for Celebration
In the second part of this series, we will explore with JANM Curator, Emily Anderson, Ph.D, how Japanese American cultural holiday traditions, such as mochitsuki, or mochi making, have adapted over time. Get a glimpse of what items from our collection reflect these stories. We will also hear firsthand from several generations of Japanese American home cooks about their own family holiday recipes. Finally, audiences will learn how to cook the traditional first meal of the year, ozoni, with cookbook author and designer, Azusa Oda, in an easy cooking demo and tutorial.
Crossroads: Boyle Heights
Through the stories of past and present neighborhood residents, Crossroads: Boyle Heights (2002) explores how the experiences and memories of many generations of Angelenos intersect in this powerful place.

A neighborhood is made up of people and places. It is defined through the experiences of those who consider it home. And it holds their hopes for the future and their memories of the past. The neighborhood of Boyle Heights is located just east of downtown between the Los Angeles River and the city boundary. It has been home to people who have come to Los Angeles from different cities, states, and countries and who brought with them their diverse beliefs, traditions and languages.
JANM Digital Film Festival Q&ACrossroads: Boyle Heights
Crossroads: Boyle Heights (2002) was produced in conjunction with the Boyle Heights: The Power of Place exhibition. On December 18, the exhibition/documentary producers and curators Sojin Kim and Claudia Sobral; along with Chicano Artivista Quetzal Flores; musician, writer, and producer Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara; and JANM VP of Exhibitions and Art Director Clement Hanami reflected on the project in a retrospective Q&A.
Contested Histories: The Hashizume Name Plate; Portland, OR
JANM visited the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, now known as the Japanese American Museum of Oregon on November 1–4, 2018, to present the "Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection" pop-up display. Here we met Naotaka "John" Hashizume who identified his father's name plate that was made in Heart Mountain, WY during World War II and was one of many objects that were part of the Eaton collection. The Japanese American Museum of Oregon is a venue for cultural and research activities and an invaluable resource for the exploration of the experiences of Nikkei and their role in Oregon's multi-cultural community.
Unboxed: In Her Own Words—Ruth Sumiko Hayakawa Kacho
On December 3, 1999, Ruth Sumiko Hayakawa Kacho shared her life story with JANM’s oral history program. Speaking about her father’s departure from Japan to the United States, her education in Japan, and her work with Radio Tokyo during World War II, Ruth touches on themes of Japanese immigration and identity through recounting her family’s unique experiences.
Donor Wall Recognition Opportunities at JANM
Create a permanent physical memorial to family members, friends, or colleagues at an historically-significant site. One of the most meaningful ways to support the Japanese American National Museum is introduced in this video by JANM Membership and Individual Giving Manager Alyctra Matsushita and Senior Philanthropy Officer John Esaki. Limited space remains to inscribe the names of individuals, families, or honorees in selected public areas of JANM for gifts of $5,000 and above.
Please visit JANM From Home for more content you might have missed.
Oshogatsu Community Photo Activity
Discover Nikkei is compiling photos to share our global Nikkei community’s New Year traditions. We want to see all your favorite dishes, family gatherings, or special traditions that you use to ring in the new year!

All photos must be submitted with descriptions by January 8, 2021 to editor@DiscoverNikkei.org. Click on the link above for more instructions or to check out all of the photos and stories shared by others.
Auld Lang Syne in the Desert and Swamp: New Year’s in Camp
New Year’s in camp during World War II brought a time for celebration and a dark reminder of how the inmate’s lives were uprooted. Learn how they found alternate ways to bring New Year’s traditions to camp.
Nima Voices: Episode 2—Erik Matsunaga
The second episode of Nima Voices featured Erik Matsunaga with guest host, award-winning author Naomi Hirahara. Erik talked about his family, projects to map historic Japanese American neighborhoods in Chicago, his @windycitynikkei Instagram account, and his other articles on Discover Nikkei.
UPCOMING ONLINE EVENTS
Members Only Meet-and-Greet with Shirley Ann Higuchi, Tamlyn Tomita, and David Ono
Saturday, Jan. 9 at 1:15pm (PST)
Free for Members
All JANM and Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation members and supporters are invited to a conversation with author Shirley Ann Higuchi, filmmaker and television anchor David Ono, and actress Tamlyn Tomita during this digital Members Only Meet-and-Greet. Higuchi is the author of the new book Setsuko’s Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration that explores the Japanese American experience through personal and collective histories. Members will have a chance to ask Higuchi, Ono, and Tomita about their own stories and reflections on the book.

Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation members should email workshops@heartmountain.org to RSVP. Space is limited so RSVP today!
Not a current member? Join or renew today!
Sparking Stories: A Conversation with Shirley Ann Higuchi & Tamlyn Tomita
Saturday, Jan. 9 at 2pm (PST)
Free
Setsuko’s Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration by Shirley Ann Higuchi blends personal and political histories into a powerful and inspirational narrative. Join author Shirley Ann Higuchi in a conversation and Q&A with actress Tamlyn Tomita, moderated by filmmaker and news anchor David Ono.

Shop the JANM store!
Setsuko’s Secret by Shirley Higuchi
The Legacy of Heart Mountain (DVD) produced by David Ono
A Taste of Home: Dining Out in Japanese America
Sunday, Jan. 17 at 2pm (PST)
Free
Japanese immigrants have worked in, owned, and sustained restaurants in the U.S. for over a century and Japanese restaurants, in their many forms, continue to be an integral a part of Japanese America. In this third and final part of A Taste of Home, we will examine the past, present, and future of Japanese American restaurants and dining through a conversation with Chef Akira Hirose and Jo Ann Maehara (Azay Little Tokyo) and Chef Niki Nakayama (n/naka) moderated by Professor Samuel H. Yamashita (Pomona College). We will also hear from graphic novelist Sam Nakahira on her new book on 1970s California cuisine and local food movements through the story of Bill Fujimoto and explore the legacy of Japanese cuisine and restaurants with a presentation of items from JANM’s collection.
The Claudia Kishi Club Reunion
Saturday, Jan. 23 at 2pm (PST)
$10 Admission; Free for Members
Join filmmaker, Sue Ding, and the cast of the documentary The Claudia Kishi Club, Naia Cucukov, Sarah Kuhn, Gale Galligan, CB Lee, Yumi Sagukawa, and Phil Yu, in a discussion of the legacy of Claudia Kishi, the iconic Japanese American character from the hit Baby-Sitters Club book series. These Asian American artists, writers, and creatives will discuss how Claudia inspired them, a generation of young readers of color, to create new stories of their own. Clips from the documentary short will be shown and discussed.
Imagine Little Tokyo Writing Workshop with Naomi Hirahara and Bill Watanabe
Thursday, Jan. 28 at 5pm (PST)
Free
Join award winning author Naomi Hirahara and Little Tokyo community leader Bill Watanabe for an interactive story writing workshop! Participants will learn tips and get advice for writing short stories that they can submit to the eighth annual Imagine Little Tokyo short story contest. 

Presented by Little Tokyo Historical Society in partnership with Discover Nikkei, the purpose of the Imagine Little Tokyo short story contest is to raise awareness of Little Tokyo through a creative story that takes place in the historic neighborhood.
What Does It Mean to Be Nikkei in 2021?
Saturday, Feb. 6 at 3pm (PST)
Free
The Global Nikkei Young Adult Research Project examined how young adult Nikkei around the world feel about and express their Japanese heritage. The project’s lead researchers—Dr. Curtiss Takada Rooks and Dr. Lindsey Sasaki Kogasaka—will share an overview of the final report findings, followed by break-out sessions around the question: “What does it mean to be Nikkei in 2021?” Simultaneous translations of the main presentation will be available in Spanish and Portuguese to encourage international Nikkei participation.

In addition to the breakout sessions, an optional opportunity for networking and connection will be available following the program.

The event is free, but advance registration is required. Limited space is available!
Visit janm.org/events/virtual to see all of our upcoming online events.
JANM STORE
Fuku-bOX-uro Lucky bOX!
Traditionally at New Year’s, stores in Japan clean their inventory of slightly imperfect merchandise and otherwise intact items missing packaging or with dented boxes in fukubukuro, or lucky grab bags. To continue this tradition and start the year off with lighter spirits and a glimmer of hope, we are launching our first ever FukubOXuro!

Very limited quantities remain!

JANM Members get 10% off!
Not a current member? Join or renew today!
COLLABORATIONS
Stand For The Arts
JANM is proud to support Stand For The Arts and Be an Arts Hero who have joined forces to rally a coalition of arts organizations, venues and individuals across the country to make a bold call to Congress: Do not leave 4.5% of the nation’s GDP out of a relief package or future budgets. Recognize the cultural AND economic value of the arts, and commit to investing in its workers. This campaign, led by the partnership between Stand for the Arts and Be an Arts Hero, is a call to action to demand immediate relief from Congress for the arts and culture sector.
Made By Us
JANM continues to partner with Made By Us to bring history to younger generations in innovative and meaningful ways, so they have more fuel to power the future.

Made up of hundreds of history and civics organizations coming together to build something bigger and to use history to power the future Made By Us and JANM aims to inspire, inform, and empower change makers to shape the next 250 years of our country.
WE’RE LOOKING FOR HOME PHOTOS AND MOVIES
Yamashita Collection - Tsugio Angela and Lillian along with friends pose in front of the family car - Japanese American National Museum 96.68.9
Tsugio, Angela, and Lillian Yamashita, along with friends, pose in front of the family car. Japanese American National Museum (96.68.9)
JANM is currently in the planning stages for an exhibition, curated by Oliver S. Wang, a pop culture expert and professor at CSULB, that will examine and highlight Nikkei car culture.

We’re looking for people to share their home photos and especially home movies involving people’s relationship to their cars for loan to JANM or a potential donation to the permanent collection. These can be about people driving, cruising, and racing cars or even just family photos/movies shot in front of cars or taken during road trips. We would especially like to find images and movies from the 1930s through 1980s.

Please contact Kristen Hayashi, Director of Collections Management and Access, at collections@janm.org or 213.830.5712.
SUPPORT JANM!
If you have enjoyed JANM From Home, please consider supporting our work with a donation or membership. Already a member? Share your love for JANM by gifting a membership! Members enjoy free general admission, discounts on workshops and other ticketed events, access to Members Only events, a 10% discount at the award-winning JANM Store and much more.

Support from our members also allows us to continue to share our mission every day.
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