The Japanese American National Museum announced Friday that its renovated Pavilion will reopen Jan. 23, 2027, nearly three years after it closed for renovations.
The Pavilion, which closed in January 2024, will feature new first-floor galleries housing the museum’s core exhibition, “In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Forging Democracy,” along with renovated second-floor galleries featuring the inaugural special exhibition, “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo,” according to the museum.
The renovation also includes the publicly accessible Hirasaki National Resource Center, featuring art and design from the museum’s permanent collection, interactive StoryFiles and archival viewing areas, along with the Kosasa Education Center, which will have two new classrooms, museum officials said.
Other improvements include a new visitor entrance, upgrades to public spaces and a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system designed to help preserve JANM’s collection of more than 160,000 artifacts.
“JANM’s reopening launches us into a new era, one that brings American stories to life and reflects the full richness of our shared history,” President and CEO Ann Burroughs said.
The new core exhibition will draw from the museum’s collection to examine 160 years of Japanese American history, spanning prewar immigration and community life, World War II incarceration, postwar resettlement, the Asian American movement and the campaign for redress, officials said.
The exhibition will include familiar artifacts and installations, including a restored barrack from the Heart Mountain incarceration camp in Wyoming. It will also introduce stories from the Tule Lake Segregation Center and explore Japanese American experiences related to anti-Muslim sentiment following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, anti-Asian hate and attacks on immigrant communities, according to the museum.
Beginning Jan. 23, the museum will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, with extended hours until 8 p.m. Fridays. JANM officials said preview events and opening celebration activities will be announced this fall.