Japanese American Museum Experience

Cultures have always astounded me as I have become so accustomed to seeing and practicing the same thing every day that when a person does something a different way, such as driving on the opposite side of the road, it’s odd. Due to this feeling manifesting in me, I became very interested in the cultural practices of other groups. Visiting the Japanese American National Museum was a very interesting experience for me. I have studied the issues between the U.S and Asian countries such as Vietnam and Japan, however, being able to meet elders who went through being put in a concentration camp and coming face to face with a barrack and other significant objects made me realize that it actually happened, it isn’t just something we learn in class it was very real. Sometimes we disassociate from history because we think it doesn’t directly affect us any more or it was so long ago we come to view it as remote.

Origami making and watching the documentary on 9066 captured my attention as it was a tactile and audible/ visual way to learn about what Japanese culture is and how the United States striped them from their rights. As stated, I knew about this long before  the field trip but the sentiment for the Japanese only further grew in my heart. As I was taking pictures of the objects in the Museum, I felt as if I were intruding on something I shouldn’t be looking at, but I knew by taking those pictures and posting them on my social media I would be making people aware of the Japanese people’s history. While looking at the objects, I internally connected them to civic media. Newspapers at the time revealed what was going on to the Japanese immigrants, but it was tampered with to make the treatment appear to be less horrid. American families would burn down the Japanese people’s houses after they had been forcibly taken to concentration camps. Americans thought that by destroying the Japanese peoples’ houses they would be aiding the government by getting rid of any threat to the country which is a form of civic engagement. That concept, however, led to a disastrous experience for many Japanese and Asian people in the U.S.