Over the weekend in Los Angeles, the Japanese American National Museum invited the public to view and sign the Ireichō, a sacred book that records -- for the first time ever -- the names of over 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly imprisoned in U.S. Army, Department of Justice, and War Relocation Authority camps during World War II.
Visitors were invited to view the names and use a special Japanese hanko to leave a mark for each person in the Ireichō as a way to honor those incarcerated during World War II. Community participation will "activate" it and rectify the historical record by correcting misspelled names or revealing names that may have been omitted from the record.
The Ireichō will be on display at JANM for one year. A companion virtual monument is available online.
More here: 'There’s our family name': Sacred book honors Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII
