2012 Applications available now!
Deadline: March 31, 2012

What is the Kansha Project?

The Kansha Project is an exciting new program that connects Japanese American youth to the continuing legacy of the Japanese American community’s incarceration during World War II. The program will center around an educational trip to Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood and the Manzanar concentration camp site in the summer of 2012.

Who can participate?

The program is open to any college age (18 - 23 years old) Japanese American. The 2012 program will be limited to 12 participants. Participants must commit to all components of the program (pre-departure orientation and program culmination).

Where will they go?

Participants will travel with three adult chaperones to Los Angeles for a three-night, four-day period. The program will be based in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, where the educational sessions will take place. The trip will include an overnight stay at the Manzanar concentration camp site.

What will they do?

Educational sessions prior to and throughout the program will cover the following topics:

• Personal identity
• Role of media and language in shaping the public’s perception of incarceration experience
• Historical context of the incarceration - racism and nationalism
• Personal/interpersonal impact of incarceration on the Japanese American community
• Current state of the Japanese American community
• The continued legacy of the Japanese American experience

Other activities will include:

• Roundtable discussion with former internees
• Visiting the Japanese American National Museum and Go For Broke Memorial
• Tour of Little Tokyo’s historic sites

When will the program take place?

The 2012 program schedule is as follows:
Orientation - June 15
Los Angeles - June 21-24
Culmination - July 1

How is the program structured?

In addition to the four-day, three-night trip to Los Angeles, participants will be required to attend a full day orientation session at the JACL Chicago office one week before departure.
Participants will work on a group project throughout the program, recording impressions of their experiences through video, photography and social media. A "nal group project compiling this footage will be presented to the Chicago community during a culmination event held one week after returning from Los Angeles.

Participants are required to attend all components of the program.

Please contact Christine Munteanu at jacl.fellow@gmail.com for more information.