Located in Los Angeles, the Japanese American National Museum traces Japanese American history from immigration to the present

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L.A. museum shares Japanese-American struggles, triumphs

June 30, 2000
Web posted at: 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT)

From Carolyn O'Neil
CNN Travel Now Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The serenity of water falling on stone and the scent of flowering trees welcome visitors to the Japanese American Museum. Inside, old suitcases piled high atop each other serve as symbols of turn-of-the-century immigration.

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That's when the Japanese-American story began, a story that the eight-year-old museum in downtown Los Angeles aims to share and preserve.

"That's right. These are the suitcases that immigrants brought with them," said George Takei, a museum board member who's better known as Sulu from "Star Trek."

While guiding a visitor on a tour through the museum, the only one of its kind in the United States, Takei noted that Japanese-Americans are now part of the American mainstream.

"We are part of the fabric of America, from U.S. senators to your schoolteacher to your local banker," Takei said.

Remembering the relocation camps

But not very long ago, embracing American ideals was not enough to protect Japanese families. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. government ordered that anyone of Japanese ancestry be sent to relocation camps.

Stacks of suitcases symbolize the arrival of Japanese immigrants in America

"We were taken to Arkansas in trains like this," Takei said, pointing to one of many photographs about the internment that are on display.

Also at the museum -- which was conceived, built and largely financed by Japanese-Americans -- is an original barracks from the camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming, along with artifacts from the camps such as dolls and baseball uniforms.

"It is fantastic. It is extraordinary. But it is very moving," one museum visitor said. "The material is very moving. ... It was a forgotten part of the past, and for many, many years nobody spoke about it. It was, you know, really too painful."

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. government ordered anyone of Japanese ancestry to be sent to relocation camps. Original barracks from Wyoming are displayed in the museum

After the indignity came a more uplifting chapter, as Japanese-Americans fought for the United States in World War II.

"And the 442nd (Regimental Combat) Team emerged from the European theater as the single most decorated outfit to return from Europe," Takei said.

Then, in 1952, Asian immigrants finally were granted U.S. citizenship, as partners in the democracy they believed in for so long.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and it's closed on Mondays. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $3 for students and children ages 6 to 17. Admission is free for everyone from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays and the third Thursday of each month.

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Japanese American National Museum
George Takei

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