The opening ceremony of “Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage” will be held on Saturday, June 13, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Hosted by ABC7 news anchor David Ono and actress Tamlyn Tomita, and featuring music, history, images, and voices from across the Nikkei community, the opening ceremony marks the start of nine weeks of programming designed to commemorate, celebrate, and educate about the histories and stories of Japanese Americans and Nikkei across the globe.
Immediately following the opening ceremony, two important films will be screened: Robert Nakamura’s “Manzanar” (1971) and Tadashi Nakamura’s “Pilgrimage” (2007). “We hope that these films, together, will help to set the tone for our Virtual Pilgrimage as a whole,” organizers said.
Register for Tadaima here: https://www.jampilgrimages.com/virtualpilgrimageregistration
Why a Virtual Pilgrimage?
In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, each of the annual pilgrimages to sites of wartime Japanese American incarceration have been canceled. These pilgrimages provide important educational and community-building opportunities for both descendants of the camps and the wider public. Recognizing the ongoing significance of these pilgrimages, “Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage” will take place this summer, hosted on the Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages (JAMP) website over the course of nine themed weeks.
What is the Virtual Pilgrimage?
“Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage” is a collaborative undertaking, involving representatives from many different contingents of the Nikkei community, as well as scholars, artists, and educators committed to actively memorializing the history of Japanese American incarceration during World War II. “Tadaima!” means “I’m home!” in Japanese. “It is our way of acknowledging that we are all home and the important reasons for why that is, while also celebrating the history, diversity, strength, and vibrancy of the Nikkei community,” organizers said.
Rather than separate in-person site pilgrimages, “Tadaima!” will bring together many of the unique traditions from each site with new content — online exhibits, workshops, performances, lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, a community archive, and more — to create accessible and wide-ranging opportunities for learning, sharing stories, and building community. Spread across nine themed weeks, the Virtual Pilgrimage will feature pre-recorded and live-streamed content, as well as opportunities to engage with presenters and gather, virtually, as a community.
Partner organizations include:
Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages (www.jampilgrimages.com)
National Park Service (www.nps.gov)
Densho (https://densho.org)
Friends of Minidoka (www.minidoka.org)
Full Spectrum Features (www.fullspectrumfefatures.com)
Heart Mountain WWII Japanese American Confinement Site (www.heartmountain.org)
Japanese American National Museum (www.janm.org)
Japanese Arts Network (www.ja-ne.org)
Minidoka Pilgrimage (www.minidokapilgrimage.org)
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (https://filmfreeway.com/PAAFF)
Visit the JAM Pilgrimages website for a complete list.