Japanese American Museum of Oregon

This is one of the best museums in Portland. That is even more impressive considering its small size.

The entrance is on 4th, and you need to be let in. This allows them to greet you, answer questions, and give handouts.

Along with a flyer for an upcoming exhibit, each of us was handed a different passbook, with a photo and information about an internee from Oregon. Group members are encouraged to trade, so you can learn about more people.

The museum is organized around the internment, and done very well. You start with a model of Portland's Japantown.

It is easy to forget that it ever existed, because the traces are gone. How that happened -- and that it happened -- are important to remember.

We then see artifacts of those lives. Many of our residents were farmers, and some had a famous celery variety, Golden Plume:

There are relics of Boy Scouts and beauty queens, and a whole dentist set up.

Then the war comes. You can hear the radio broadcast, looking at a typical living room set up.

Multimedia is an important part of the experience. As well as looking and reading, you can hear the voices of former internees being interviewed.

Little touches make the history more vivid, like full fly strips in the recreated barracks.

 It is worth remembering that there are people alive today who were in the camps as children.

A section followed on those who got out of the camps by enlisting.

The subject of my passbook, Frank Hachiya, was one of them. He was shot when volunteering his translation services, "likely mistaken for an infiltrator".

There were other ways to give distinguished service. Minoru Yasui received a Presidential Medal of Honor for challenging the curfew. The museum has an old jail cell on display that was excavated from Multnomah County Jail, where Yasui spent nine months.

The medals for Hachiya and Yasui were awarded posthumously.

Despite that, there were people who returned, and played an important part in Portland history.

COVID: They take masking seriously here, which was nice to see as it is all too rare.

Accessibility: This seems pretty navigable. The route has a reasonable width, and there are places to sit and rest. In addition, recorded material had text accompaniment which would be a benefit to the hard of hearing.

https://jamo.org/