Japanese American National Museum

With every season of life, there are “leftovers” that affect the next season and generations to come.  On Saturday, October 4, 2025,  Janice Munemitsu and Tommy Dyo, AAPI advocate and Little Tokyo historian, did a program for the Japanese American National Museum, Downtown Los Angeles, about the “leftovers” that were inherited from their family’s WWII incarceration. 

They explored the “leftovers” that shaped their respective family lifestyle, habits, emotions, and underlying trauma as a result of the World War II incarceration and postwar resettlement years. They also reflected on the generational inheritance of perseverance, interconnectedness, and survival “gambatte" of the families.

All ten of Janice's Issei and Nisei family members were incarcerated in the Poston incarceration camp in Arizona. Tommy’s family members’ experience spans from Santa Anita temporary detention center, Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Gila River in Arizona, and the Crystal City Department of Justice camp in Texas. Both grandfathers were unjustly arrested / incarcerated at the Lordsburg and Santa Fe Department of Justice camps in New Mexico.  Together, they hope this conversation will facilitate greater understanding, promote healing for others, and cultivate kindness.