The Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) is located at 535 N. Fifth Street in San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, in the heart of Japantown

Japantown, San Jose, California

Japantown is the portion of San Jose, California bounded by First Street to the west, 8th street to the east, Empire Street to the south and Taylor Street to the north; it is just north of Downtown San Jose. Japantown originally formed around the existing "Heinlenville" Chinatown settlement...

. The museum's mission is to collect, preserve, and share Japanese American

Japanese American

are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...

 art, history, and culture with an emphasis on the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

History

The JAMsj was established in November 1987. It grew out of a 1984-86 research project on Japanese American farmers in the Santa Clara Valley

Santa Clara Valley

The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San José, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration...

. The farming project collected family histories, historical photographs, private memoirs and other unpublished documents and led to the development of a curriculum package on Japanese American history

Japanese American history

Japanese American history is the history of Japanese Americans or the history of ethnic Japanese in the United States. People from Japan began emigrating to the U.S. in significant numbers following the political, cultural, and social changes stemming from the 1868 Meiji Restoration...

, which was adopted for use by the San Jose Unified

San Jose Unified School District

San Jose Unified School District is a K-12 school district in Santa Clara County, California. It serves a large portion of the city of San Jose, California with a student population of approximately 32,000.-List of schools:...

 and Eastside Union High School Districts. JAMsj's workshop on developing family histories provided documentary materials and photos included in the award-winning book Japanese Legacy: Farming and Community Life in California's Santa Clara Valley (1985) co-authored by Timothy J. Lukes, Ph.D. and Gary Y. Okihiro, Ph.D.

The museum started in the historic Issei Memorial Building (formerly the Kuwabara Hospital) with the help and support of the Japanese American Citizens League

Japanese American Citizens League

The was formed in 1929 to protect the rights of Japanese Americans from the state and federal governments. It fought for civil rights for Japanese Americans, assisted those in internment camps during World War II, and led a successful campaign for redress for internment from the U.S...

, San Jose Chapter. In 2002, the name changed from Japanese American Resource Center/Museum (JARC/M) to Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) to better reflect the museum's archival focus. JAMsj now occupies the former residence of Tokio Ishikawa, M.D. two doors south on North Fifth Street.

The original JAMsj building was demolished in 2008. The new museum re-opened in October, 2010.

External links

• Japanese American Museum of San Jose homepage