Courage & Compassion: Our Shared Story of the Japanese American World War II Experience

• Open to the public Saturday, May 9, 2026 – Sunday, August 30, 2026

Courage and Compassion chronicles the stories of Japanese Americans during and immediately after WWII, and highlights the bravery, integrity and extraordinary support of Japanese Americans within communities across the country during that turbulent time. Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, plunged the United States into WWII and forever changed the lives of Japanese Americans across the nation. Those living on the West Coast of the mainland United States were forced from their homes to isolated incarceration camps scattered across the American West and South. Denied their Constitutional rights and imprisoned without trial, approximately 120,000 residents of Japanese ancestry–nearly two-thirds of whom were American citizens–were forced to leave their lives behind simply because they looked like the enemy.

Through images, audio and interactive elements, Courage and Compassion provides a 360-degree perspective of the WWII experience of Americans of Japanese ancestry while exploring its relevance today. The exhibition honors everyday people in cities and towns across America who rose above the wartime hysteria to recognize Japanese Americans as friends, neighbors and fellow citizens.

This exhibition is made possible through a collaboration between Go for Broke National Education Center and the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.

This exhibit is made possible with the support from Herni & Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.