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2009 was a rewarding year for NJAHS in so many ways.

640 Development
Early in 2010, we learned that an additional $1 million in federal support was awarded to the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Historic Learning Center through the Presidio Trust for a total of $4.58 million. The federal appropriation was among Speaker Nancy Pelosi's requests for 2010. The campaign committee members and the Board now feel we can proceed in earnest to secure our long-term lease as a tenant-occupant with the Presidio Trust and work closely with them in the development of a 10,000 square foot permanent exhibition and educational center within our nation's urban national park. The Presidio of San Francisco is located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which boasts a visitorship equal to that of Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon combined. We are so thankful for the grassroots support from the MIS veterans in Hawaii to Washington DC, and the national support from the Japanese American Citizens League, for this national preservation effort.

MIS EXHIBIT
We debuted our latest exhibit, PREJUDICE AND PATRIOTISM: The Story of Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service: 1941 to 1952, to raise national awareness of the story of the MIS. It is now ready for national tour to Chicago in May - July this year and later to Seattle, WA.

WOMEN'S SYMPOSIUM
Last fall, I had the pleasure of being invited to conduct Part II of the Japanese Women's Scholar Symposium in Osaka - "Legacy of Japanese Women: Nisei and Sansei Women and Their Social Networks." The other panelists invited to speak at Osaka Umeda Campus (Kwansei Gakuin University) were Professors Valerie Matsumoto (UCLA) and Lynne Horiuchi (UCBerkeley). I also spoke before the Fulbright Scholars Alumni Association at Nagoya Amerika Kenkuykai (Nanzan University). There we met Dean Hiroshi Fujimoto who was also a consultant to the Vietnam history museum project in the States. It was a perfect opportunity to bring along my 7-year-old daughter Charlene to see Japan for the first time, much like I had done at her age, some 30 years ago. Of course, the retracing was difficult, as Japan had changed so much since that time. She was able to visit Japan's UNESCO village at Takayama and get a glimpse of old Japan during her great-grandmother's time and raved at the food, the vending machines, and the overall aesthetics.

We visited the special Women's exhibit at the Yokohama Overseas Migration Museum together and met the women scholars involved in its development. This was the same exhibit visited by Empress Michiko as she expressed her desire to see more of the common woman's story represented. I marveled at the depth and breadth of the Asian American Studies Movement, which had its own Japan-based scholarship and pedagogy for the past 20 years. Incredible!

NEXT GENERATION!
Back in the States, we look to the youth to keep cultural preservation meaningful and relevant. We've completed our third successful year of our Japantown Cultural Tourism Initiative Summer Internship Intensive. This peer-to-peer hands-on cultural and historic preservation internship trains the next generation of leaders to fully participate in preserving and promoting one of the last remaining Japantowns in the US. Through educational outreach, digital storytelling, research and investigative analysis, high school and college youth develop marketing tactics and programs like youth-led walking tours that excite everyone's imagination. You can check out their "$20 a Day in J-town" on YouTube. On behalf of the National Japanese American Historical Society board and staff, I wish to thank all our members and supporters for the successful programs of this past year.

 

Rosalyn Tonai
Executive Director