The new WWII Gallery features a restored Heart Mountain Barrack. (rendering courtesy of Ralph Applebaum Associates)

The Japanese American National Museum will reopen its renovated pavilion on Jan. 23, 2027, welcoming visitors back to galleries that have been closed since Jan. 6, 2024.

The renovation includes new first-floor galleries for the museum’s core exhibition, “In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Forging Democracy,” as well as redesigned special exhibition galleries, a relocated Hirasaki National Resource Center, two classrooms in the new Kosasa Education Center and an upgraded HVAC system to help preserve the museum’s collection of more than 160,000 artifacts.

“JANM’s reopening launches us into a new era, one that brings American stories to life and reflects the full richness of our shared history,” JANM President and CEO Ann Burroughs said. “We look forward to welcoming visitors from around the world to a Pavilion transformed by powerful storytelling, immersive installations and new technology that connects the stories of the Japanese American community to the urgent issues facing all of us today. These new spaces and experiences will deepen our ability to fulfill our mission, share our extraordinary collection, serve as a beacon for civil rights, and activate memory and the arts to shape a more just and hopeful future, one that inspires, educates and connects generations to come.”

Visitors will enter through a new main entrance along the Pavilion’s curved glass facade and into Aratani Central Hall. The 9,200-square-foot first-floor gallery space will house “In the Future We Call Now,” which explores 160 years of Japanese American history.

The exhibition will feature artifacts and photographs documenting Japanese American communities before World War II and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war. Returning objects include the restored Heart Mountain barracks, Kristine Aono’s “Relics from Camp: An Artist’s Installation” and Lance Matsushita’s model of the Manzanar concentration camp. Multimedia installations will trace Japanese American history through postwar resettlement, the Asian American movement, redress and contemporary issues.

On the second floor, 5,500 square feet of galleries have been reconfigured for special exhibitions. The inaugural exhibition, “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo,” will also open Jan. 23. The exhibition brings together more than 80 paintings and drawings by the three Japanese American artists and will include additional works recently acquired by JANM.

The second floor will also house the Hirasaki National Resource Center, which will provide public access to reference materials, archival viewing areas and art and design from the museum’s collection. Interactive StoryFiles featuring recorded interviews with Japanese American concentration camp survivors and veterans will allow visitors to engage with responses using artificial intelligence technology.

The Kosasa Education Center will include two 45-seat classrooms that can be combined for larger groups and public programs.

Beginning Jan. 23, JANM will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and until 8 p.m. on Fridays. School and group tours will resume March 1, with reservations opening this fall. Preview events and opening celebrations are also expected to be announced this fall.

The Japanese American National Museum is located at 100 N. Central Ave.

For information, visit janm.org.