Japanese American National Museum Store Online
The award-winning Museum Store of the Japanese American National Museum features distinctive Asian American merchandise for all occasions and generations. Their unique product line represents the essence of the Japanese American experience, while also promoting an appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity. All proceeds from the Museum Store support Museum programs and exhibitions.
The articles in this series were originally written for the Japanese American National Museum’s online store [janmstore.com] to give a deeper understanding of the authors, artists, and traditions featured in the store.
Stories from this series
Dave Iwataki: Jazzing It Up
Oct. 13, 2009 • Darryl Mori
“Music is emotion,” says Dave Iwataki.“My strongest, early influence was Herbie Hancock,” the veteran arranger/composer/keyboardist notes. “I aspired to play, write and evolve like him. I felt he had the gift for putting true emotion into music.” For Iwataki, who has collaborated with major artists such as Peabo Bryson, Barry Manilow, Kenny G, The Pointer Sisters, Tom Scott, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Olivia Newton-John, Paul Anka, and The Fifth Dimension, music is also culture.As an early member of the …
The Rhythms of Life: Shasta Taiko
Sept. 25, 2009 • Darryl Mori
“This woman came up to me and said, ‘I don’t know why, but I just burst out crying when you were playing taiko,’” Jeanne Aiko Mercer says. “That happens a lot,” the pioneering taiko artist explains. “I think taiko is very healing. It’s a release, and I think people need that in their lives.” For Mercer and her husband Russel Baba, who founded the renowned Shasta Taiko group in 1985, the thundering rhythms of the taiko drum are more than …
Songs and Searching: The Music of Kiyoshi Graves
Aug. 17, 2009 • Darryl Mori
Beside the blue waters of a Los Angeles reservoir, Kiyoshi Graves found a long-hidden path.It may be years before he learns where it leads. But following it has changed his life. “After having been away for about 10 years, I moved back to Los Angeles in 2002 from Northern California and it was a mixed bag of emotions,” Graves says. “This was after swearing, as a confused high-school dropout in my teens, that I’d never come back. I was also …
October Moments: Celebrating the History of Nisei Baseball
April 3, 2008 • Susan Osa
With spring season in bloom, the timeless beauty and classic traditions of another baseball season takes center stage on fields across America. As a young boy growing up in Los Angeles, Peter Chen idolized Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was inspired by the beauty of the sport. As a successful artist, he has woven his love of baseball with his creative talents to celebrate baseball history. As a second-generation Asian American, Peter Chen always enjoyed drawing, painting, …
Stories from Little Tokyo: The Woman in the Picture
Jan. 4, 2008 • Darryl Mori
A chance encounter in the Japanese American National Museum’s store led to a surprising discovery. Penny Akemi Sakoda was visiting the Museum with relatives and friends, when her daughter noticed a picture on the cover of a music CD, Festival Time in Japan. Astonished, Sakoda’s daughter turned to her and said, “Mom, this is you!” The image was a photograph, taken 47 years earlier, when Sakoda was crowned as Los Angeles’ 1960 Nisei Week Queen. Festival Time in Japan, an …
Oshogatsu Traditions in the United States
Nov. 21, 2007 • Susan Chen , Vicky K. Murakami-Tsuda
In the Western world, New Year’s Eve is a big day for parties to celebrate the end of a year and the fresh start of a new one. In Japan, the beginning of the New Year, or Oshogatsu, is when friends and family gather together for what is considered to be the most important holiday of the year. It is celebrated throughout the country and by Nikkei around the world with symbolic food, decorations, activities, and other traditions to wish …
