Exhibit Events & Coverage

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The Visit of the Ireichō

In June 2025, the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum and the curatorial team of Roots, Removal and Resistance were honored to host the Ireicho, a monument to the over 126,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII. Inspired by the Japanese tradition of Kakochō (“The Book of the Past”), a book of names typically placed on a Buddhist temple altar, the Ireichō is a large book which lists every person of Japanese ancestry incarcerated during the war. Descendants and survivors of those listed in the book may visit and stamp the book. After being installed at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles for several years, in 2025 the Ireichō went on tour to all Japanese American incarceration sites as well as other stopping points, including BHSM.

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Oral Histories

The curatorial team conducted several oral histories for this exhibit. Recordings can be found here: Berkeley Historical Society & Museum events and oral histories

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Exhibit Coverage

The Roots, Removal and Resistance curatorial team hosted a series of community events on topics relating to the Japanese American experience in Berkeley. The exhibit was covered by several news outlets.

• Berkeleyside, “New Exhibit Shows How Japanese Americans Were Uprooted From Across Berkeley During WWII”
• Nichi Bei Times, “Berkeley’s Multi-Generational Japanese American History Contextualized,” and video coverage
• KPIX covered the exhibit and the visit of the Ireicho.
• BHSM partnered with Topaz Stories for a talk centered on the return from camps.
• The East Bay Express visited the exhibit in June 2025, when the Ireicho book of names was hosted at the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum.