March 18, 2026
For this year’s Day of Remembrance 2026, Densho staff joined communities across the U.S. to honor and commemorate the survivors, descendants, and stories of WWII Japanese American incarceration. Staff participated in programs across California, Washington, and Texas, both strengthening connections with longtime partners and building new ones. This photo essay highlights moments from those events, featuring images from gatherings where staff spoke, tabled, and engaged with community members. Together, these snapshots capture acts of remembrance, reflection, and connection, highlighting the continued relevance of this history.
On February 14th, Densho Executive Director Naomi Ostwald Kawamura was a panelist, alongside founder of Ireicho Project Rev. Duncan Ryuken Williams, at the Northern California Time of Remembrance event, “Preserving History” at the California Museum in Sacramento, California. Journalist Sharon Ito served as the moderator and guided the conversation about the future of preserving Japanese American wartime incarceration history. The conversation continued for two hours and concluded with an audience Q&A. Speakers discussed the importance of preserving this history, how Densho and Ireicho approach such preservation work, and their plans to adapt to future needs.
This event was presented by Florin-SV, Lodi, Placer County and Sacramento JACL Chapters. Attendance included people as young as five months old to 100 years old. After the event, attendees were able to continue the conversation by visiting museum exhibits: a temporary exhibit, “Kokoro: The Story of Sacramento’s Lost Japantown,” and a permanent exhibit, “Uprooted: An American Story.”
On February 15, Densho Content Director Brian Niiya served as a guest speaker at the UC Irvine Tomo no Kai event “DOR to Today: Carrying History to the Present.” This event was open to the public and featured two guest speakers, Karen Umemoto (Professor and Director, Asian American Studies Center) and Brian, along with a live taiko performance, activities, and dinner catered by L&L Hawaiian BBQ.
Reflecting on the program, Brian shared: “The UC Irvine DoR has been organized annually by Tomo no Kai, a Japanese American heritage organization, which asked for an overview of Japanese American incarceration history and its connection to current events. Along with co-presenter Karen Umemoto, we mixed in this history with our family stories, focusing on Karen’s father, Hank Umemoto. I think the presentation was well received by a crowd that included students, their family members, and members of the Southeast Los Angeles North Orange County-Orange County Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.”
A few days later on February 19, Densho Archives Director Caitlin Oiye Coon spoke at the Yakima Valley Museum Day of Remembrance program, co-sponsored by the Blaine and Preciosa Tamaki Foundation. Following a brief history of the Days of Remembrance, Dr. Yesenia Hunter moderated a panel exploring local stories, which featured Caitlin alongside Tammy Ayer and Lon Inaba. The keynote speaker was Blaine Tamaki, who told his powerful personal story of the incarceration and how it guided him in his career as a lawyer.
On the same day, February 19, North Seattle College honored Day of Remembrance by hosting an event for their students. Densho was invited to share a history about their campus, as it was formerly Green Lake Gardens, which was owned by the Kumasaka family. Sharing illuminating photos of the Kumasaka family and their farm, sourced from Densho’s archives, the talk bridged place-specific stories and Japanese American incarceration history.
Sara Beckman, Densho’s Digital Archivist, spoke to the importance of community collections and the protections that community ownership provides for stewardship and history-keeping. Maya Hayashi, a Densho event manager who also spoke, recounted: “It was powerful to have researched the area, seeing images of the family cultivating flowers and developing community, and then taking a land-bridge from the transit station over the sites that were in the same photographs.”
A couple days later on February 21, Courtney Wai, Education & Public Programs Manager, led a tabling activity at the National Museum of the Pacific War’s Day of Remembrance event in Fredericksburg, Texas. She invited families to create paper flowers while sharing how incarcerees used them to bring beauty and meaning to their surroundings despite limited resources. The event also featured remarks from Rob Buscher of the Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee, who drew connections between Day of Remembrance and Texas histories of incarceration.
On the same day, February 21, several LA-based Densho staff members attended the Los Angeles Day of Remembrance event, “The Power of Action: Silence Today, Injustice Tomorrow.” The program was organized by: Go For Broke National Education Center, Japanese American Citizens League – Pacific Southwest District, Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo Service Center, Manzanar Committee, Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress, Nikkei Progressives, OCA – Greater Los Angeles.
At the end of the month on February 28, Brian Niiya attended another Day of Remembrance event hosted by the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute. The program, “Then and Now: From WWII Incarceration to Today’s ICE Raids,” featured the film Betrayed: Surviving an American Concentration Camp, followed by a panel discussion contextualizing the historical events and examining the parallels with present day events involving ICE raids on immigrant communities.