Japanese American National Museum history

Four decades later, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 officially acknowledged the "fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights" of the internment.

Despite having its dedication disrupted by the civil unrest after the first Rodney King trial, JANM opened to the public in May of 1992.

Embodying the goal to take JANM shows to the greater Nikkei community, this exhibition traveled to San Jose, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Honolulu, Hawai`i in 1994.

In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition focused on another core community story, Fighting for Tomorrow: Japanese Americans in America’s Wars, JANM organized the “National Salute to Japanese American Veterans” in November of 1995.

In 1997, From Bento to Mixed Plate: Americans of Japanese Ancestry in Multicultural Hawai`i opened at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.

America’s Concentration Camps went to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City in 1998 and The Kona Coffee Story: Along the Hawai`i Belt Road was displayed in Brazil.

In 2001, JANM premiered Henry Sugimoto: Painting an American Experience, based on a previous donation by the Sugimoto family.

In 2002, JANM organized the All-Camps Summit in Los Angeles, a gathering of former inmates, oral historians, and representatives from preservation organizations to share projects and resources and to build new collaborations.

JANM continued to highlight the arts and culture by collaborating with photographer kip fulbeck (kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa), publisher Eric Nakamura (Giant Robot), and musician Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park for a series of art shows starting in 2006 and running through 2012. It installed two prestigious traveling exhibitions in 2004: Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics, from the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; and September 11: Bearing Witness to History, from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

An official affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, JANM was the recipient in 2010 of the National Medal for Museum and Library Services, America’s highest honor for museums.

JANM continued to grow its programming with new thematic exhibitions such as Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World (2014); Dodgers: Brotherhood of the Game (2014); and, Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty (2014). These shows and others brought in new audiences.

JANM also continued to add to its permanent collection with the acquisition of 240 oil paintings, 200 water color paintings, woodblock prints, and diaries of artist Henry Sugimoto in 2015.

In 2017, JANM began a series of collaborative exhibitions, starting with Instructions to All Persons: Reflections on Executive Order 9066.

JANM installed hapa.me – 15 years of the hapa project in 2018, the follow up to the original show.