Helen Yoshida

@Helen_Yoshida

Helen Yoshida is the Communications Writer at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). She earned her BA in English from the University of California, Irvine, and her MA in History, with a focus on oral history, from California State University, Fullerton. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Oral History Review, Kokoro Kara, and JANM’s blog, First & Central, among others. (Photo: Toyo Miyatake Studio)

Updated July 2023

Stories from This Author

John Esaki—Treasured Filmmaker and Storyteller in Little Tokyo

Sept. 9, 2024 • Helen Yoshida

John Esaki is a treasured filmmaker and storyteller in the Los Angeles Japanese American and Asian American communities. Born in Monterey, California, Esaki grew up with his brother, Howard and his parents, George Teruo Esaki and Michi Jean Esaki (née Oishi). His paternal grandmother, Fusano, also lived in Monterey and often looked after Esaki and Howard when their parents worked or attended social events. Fusano’s husband, Tonosuke, emigrated to Monterey from Wakayama and worked as a laborer. He eventually sent …

Arizona collections (objects) concentration camps family histories genealogy Gila River (Ariz.) Gila River concentration camp JANM collection Japanese American National Museum John Esaki museum objects United States World War II camps

Collective Memories of the Store

Oct. 10, 2023 • Helen Yoshida

The Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight calls JANM’s exhibition, Glenn Kaino: Aki’s Market, “a captivating theater of dreams.” The virtual reality experience depicts an important place in Kaino’s family history—a place that the artist, Glenn Akira Kaino, has never experienced for himself. A place of collective memory, dreams, art, and history. The virtual corner store and artworks in the exhibition are inspired by his grandparents, Akira and Sachiye Shiraishi, and their small neighborhood market that they ran from …

artists California City Terrace East Los Angeles Glenn Akira Kaino Glenn Kaino: Aki’s Market (exhibition) Heart Mountain Heart Mountain concentration camp imprisonment incarceration Japanese American National Museum Japanese American National Museum (organization) Los Angeles postwar United States virtual reality World War II World War II camps Wyoming

Swing Dance and Music in Camp

July 25, 2023 • Helen Yoshida

What was it like to grow up behind barbed wire? JANM’s exhibition, Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps, explores the experiences of Japanese American youth confronting the injustice of being imprisoned in World War II concentration camps while embarking on the universal journey of adolescence. Preteens, teenagers, and young adults danced with one another, listened to jazz and big band music, and formed musical groups of their own that performed regularly in camp. Swing dance, …

dance Don't Fence Me In (exhibition) Japanese American National Museum music swing dance swing music World War II camps

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

April 25, 2023 • Helen Yoshida

Our stories are just as significant as anyone else’s. — Tad Nakamura Tad Nakamura was at ease as we sat across from each other in the cavernous and calm office of the Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center (MAC). As the videographer set up the camera for our interview, I talked with the new director of MAC about how I unknowingly came across his work as an undergraduate at University of California, Irvine. After publishing an interview with Jake Shimabukuro …

California communities filmmakers Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center Japanese American National Museum Karen L. Ishizuka Little Tokyo Los Angeles Robert Nakamura Tadashi Nakamura United States Yellow Brotherhood (film) Yellow Brotherhood (organization)

Meet William Fujioka, the New Chairman of the JANM Board of Trustees

Oct. 18, 2022 • Helen Yoshida

William “Bill” Fujioka is the new chairman of the JANM Board of Trustees. Born in Boyle Heights, he moved to Montebello, California, at a young age. He still recalls the racism he encountered during the 1950s and ’60s. Many men in his neighborhood fought in the Pacific Theater during World War II and had family members who were killed by the Japanese army. The amount of racism he encountered growing up was significant. “I was called Jap, not once a …

British Columbia Burnaby California Canada communities families Japanese American National Museum Japanese American National Museum (organization) leadership Linda Fujioka Los Angeles Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre United States volunteerism William Fujioka

Thanks a Million, Norm!

June 20, 2022 • Mia Russell , Helen Yoshida

Norman Y. Mineta, Board of Trustees Chair at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), was a fount of inspiration for the younger generation. An extraordinary leader and mentor, Secretary Mineta inspired careers in a range of disciplines, exemplified kindness and diplomacy, and recognized the potential in everyone. His light lives on in all of us. On Saturday, June 25, 2022, JANM will host a Celebration of Life in his honor. Read on for our memories of Norm and more details …

Norman Mineta

JANM Volunteer Reflects on Southern California Roots and World War II Experiences

May 30, 2022 • Helen Yoshida

Barbara Reiko Mikami Keimi has been volunteering at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) with her husband, Hal, before the Museum opened to the public in JANM’s Historic Building in 1992. “I never realized how much my parents protected us until I was an adult and my husband, Hal and I became volunteers at JANM,” said Keimi. Keimi’s roots in Los Angeles and Orange County, California, run deep. She was born Barbara Reiko Mikami in 1935 to Chihiro Harry Mikami …