JAMsj E-News Japanese American Museum of San JoseJune 2010 - Vol. 3, Issue 4
|
|
|
|
|
JAMsj Docent Training
|
 JAMsj Docent Training
Saturday, August 7 & 14 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Japanese American Museum of San Jose 535 N. Fifth Street, San Jose, CA 95112
JAMsj volunteers have been busy with new and returning exhibits
in preparation for our grand opening. More docents and docent
training are essential to the success of the expanded collection.
Curator Jimi Yamaichi communicates his vision of the exhibit display space to board members and volunteers.
What is a docent?
Docents are volunteer educators who interpret and communicate our educational message to the public during museum tours. There
are no prerequisites to be a JAMsj docent. All we want are
dependable and enthusiastic people who are willing to learn.
Why become a docent?
In
addition to the satisfaction of providing a valuable community service,
you'll receive continuing education with expert instruction, a broad
assortment of instructional materials, access to our research library,
and special invitations to docent events.
Introduction for prospective docents
Curator
Jimi Yamaichi and Education Director Aggie Idemoto will provide docent
training for new and experienced docents on Saturday, August 7, from
9:00 am to 12:00 pm at JAMsj. The session will be repeated the
following week, Saturday, August 14, at the same time and place.
The
national museum standards for "interpretation" will guide docent
development for the sharing of Japanese American art, history, and
culture. Because quality exhibits extend beyond photos and captions,
docents will learn interactive strategies to enhance the visitor's
experience.
Interested in becoming a JAMsj docent? You can access our Web site, www.jamsj.org and complete the volunteer application form. For further information or
if you would like to register for docent training, contact Aggie
Idemoto at (408) 268-4440 or aggie@jamsj.org.
|
|
|
|
|
New Museum Exhibits: The Story of Resistance
|
Expanding the Japanese American Story: The Story of Resistance
By Will Kaku
The newly reopened
Japanese American Museum provides a larger exhibit space for its
permanent and rotating collections and will allow JAMsj to tell a more
expansive story of Japanese American history. All told, there is 6,400
square feet of interior space.
One of the stories that is not
often told and sometimes avoided is the story of resistance
during the incarceration period. Paul DeWitt, a JAMsj board
member since 2005, is currently preparing a new exhibit display
for the Museum to highlight this controversial subject.
"People do not
want to talk about so-called negative things," Mr. DeWitt
said. "People have always wanted to present what they believe is
a positive image of Japanese American history to the public.
Even Japanese Americans do not want to talk about resistance and
maybe do not even know about it. " Mr. DeWitt
acknowledges that the topic of resistance is a broad and
complicated one and that it is impossible to present a
comprehensive story of resistance in a single exhibit display.
Examples of the various candidate topics for the new display
include the various Supreme Court cases, the
Coram Nobis cases, draft resistance, "No-No"
boys, repatriation, expatriation,
renunciation, deportation, the Hoshi-dan, and even
resistance poetry.
Mr. DeWitt became
interested in the topic of Japanese American World War II incarceration
while he was a social science teacher and later department chairperson
at Newark Memorial High School. After conducting extensive research on
the subject and building an impressive collection of documents and
exhibit materials, he established educational programs on Japanese
American incarceration for his school. His work later expanded into
leading educational workshops throughout the country in cooperation with
Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR)
and the California Council for the
Social Studies. The quality of his research and his strong
commitment to educating his students in innovative ways did not go
unnoticed. Mr. DeWitt was awarded the Teacher of the Year in Alameda
County. Read the rest of this article... |
JAMsj/Yu-Ai Kai Book Club Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei
|
JAMsj/Yu-Ai Kai Book ClubTurning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei
David Mura August 6, 20101:00 pmYu-Ai
Kai Community Senior Services Center588 N. Fourth Street
San Jose, CA 95112
About author David Mura
"Turning Japanese
reads like a fascinating novel you can't put down . . . The strength and
eloquence of Mura's book resides in his ability to capture and speak to the
Japanese-American experience across generations, and perhaps, more importantly,
to present the tools and insights for people across cultures and ethnicities to
examine, reexamine and reclaim their sense of history and identity ." -- Asian Week
"In his memoir Turning Japanese , the poet David Mura brings
an intriguing perspective to the New World quest for enlightenment from
this ancient and ascendant culture, being himself a sansei--a third
generation Japanese-American...Drawing on his own history of repressed
racial self-consciousness, Mr. Mura is quite good on the sexual
politics of race...His general observations on the landscape and
customs can be fresh and revealing...Ultimately, Mr. Mura seems to have
acquired a sense of ease, and of inspiration--like a man who has
discovered a fertile atoll in mid-Pacific." --Jay McInerney, The New York Times
The book club
meets the first Friday of every other month and is always
open to new members. Selections are chosen collaboratively at the
end of each meeting and align with the JAMsj mission -- the celebration
of Japanese
American art, history, and culture. Books are readily available at San
Jose public libraries. If you have questions, please contact Aggie
Idemoto at (408) 268-4440 or aggie@jamsj.org
|
Volunteer Opportunities
|
As we get ready for our grand opening, we will need many more volunteers to help with various activities. Help is desired in many exciting areas:
- Administrative services
- Event planning
- Fund development
- Marketing communications
- Mail distribution coordinator
- Information technology
- Facility and grounds maintenance
- Business services
- Office manager
- Administrative assistants
- Data processing/transcribing
- Retail
- Finance
- Educational services
- Docents
for the Museum and Japantown tours
- Library maintenance
- Exhibit preparation
- Human Resources
- Volunteer coordinator
- Board secretary
Click here for more information about our exciting opportunities.
Become a part of the JAMsj family as we enter this exciting period! Contact Aggie Idemoto at aggie@jamsj.org or (408) 268-4440..
|

Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj)535 N. Fifth StreetSan Jose, CA 95112Tel: (408) 294-3138Email: mail@jamsj.orgwww.jamsj.org |
|
|
|