Stuff contributed by miam

Japanese American National Museum Store Online

Hapa-ly Ever After: An Interview with Jeff Chiba Stearns

Mia Nakaji Monnier

Growing up in the predominantly white city of Kelowna, British Columbia, Jeff Chiba Stearns felt very aware of being different from most of the people around him. Born to a Sansei mother and “Euro-mutt” father (of English, Scottish, German, and Russian descent), he was no stranger to the “What are …

From Crenshaw to Deerhorn: An Interview with Nina Revoyr

Mia Nakaji Monnier

My first introduction to Nina Revoyr’s writing was through her 2003 novel, Southland, a story of love, family, and hopes interrupted by forces of hysteria and racial hatred. Told from multiple perspectives during 1994, WWII, and the Watts Riots, Southland shows readers a Los Angeles of shifting borders and poignant …

Lost and Found: Amy Hill on Adoption and Identity

Mia Nakaji Monnier

In the last two and a half decades, Amy Hill has owned a Hawaiian fruit stand, tried in vain to dissuade her elderly father from becoming a Japanese porn star, and provided scientific aid to a teenage secret agent. Oh, and she’s also an actress.

Japanese American National Museum Store Online

Generation Teas

Mia Nakaji Monnier

In the Japanese American National Museum Store lives a five-generation family of teas, dressed in colorful labels, snuggling tin-to-tin on the shelf they call home. This flavorful family is the realization of Maria Kwong’s more-than-a-decade-long dream to bring custom tea to the National Museum. For Maria, the Museum’s Director of …

Kizuna: Nikkei Stories from the 2011 Japan Earthquake & Tsunami

Reflections on Alexandra Wallace and the "Remember Pearl Harbor" Gang

Mia Nakaji Monnier

In one weekend, a video posted by UCLA student Alexandra Wallace exploded all over YouTube, spurring responses in only a matter of hours, ranging from public service announcement-type videos made by concerned fellow students to lighthearted spoofs and angry retorts—even to videos and comments more ignorant and hateful than Wallace’s …

Their Struggles Are Our Struggles - Part 2

Mia Nakaji Monnier

>> Part 1Nakamura is a Yonsei with a passion for music, sports, and storytelling. At 30 years old, he has already created a trilogy of documentaries on the Asian American Movement that comprises Yellow Brotherhood (2003), Pilgrimage (2007), and A Song for Ourselves (2009). His current project is a film …

Their Struggles Are Our Struggles - Part 1

Mia Nakaji Monnier

Documentary filmmaker Tad Nakamura illustrates parallels between Japanese American history and current American issuesTad Nakamura's Pilgrimage begins with a shot of candles in the darkness. The camera scans over the lowered heads of people gathered together in vigil outside the Japanese American National Museum, as music plays solemn and slow. As …

Maya Soetoro-Ng and the Gift of Belonging

Mia Nakaji Monnier

Parents and children slowly began to gather in the upstairs foyer of the Japanese American National Museum on Saturday, June 12 to await the arrival of Maya Soetoro-Ng, scheduled to read from her upcoming children’s book, Ladder to the Moon .

American in a Foreign Motherland

family history
miam

This album documents my first meeting as an adult with my Japanese uncle, as well as our "pilgrimage" back to our family's furusato in Wakayama. Though my mother is Japanese, I was …

16 Years Later: The Heart Mountain Barracks Project

Mia Nakaji Monnier

Upstairs in the Japanese American National Museum is a barrack from Heart Mountain Relocation Center. For visitors, the barrack has come to feel like the heart of the museum, a tangible reminder of the unconstitutional incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII in America’s own concentration camps.

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About

I'm a recent college grad and Discover Nikkei volunteer living in LA. I love reading, writing, drinking tea, and exploring my city.

Nikkei interests

  • community history
  • family stories
  • festival/matsuri
  • Japanese/Nikkei food
  • Japantowns
  • taiko

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