The Discover Nikkei website: Share and discuss Nikkei experience
with Nikkei communities around the world

The Nikkei are people of Japanese descent who have migrated and settled throughout the world over the last century and a half. The Chicago Japanese American Historical Society (CJAHS) contributes to the Discover Nikkei website to participate in an Internet community, a dynamic group of educational, cultural and community-based organizations from Japan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and the United States.

Together, we share and discuss Nikkei experience regionally and globally, and in historical as well as contemporary contexts. The CJAHS supports the Discover Nikkei website's mission to promote cross-cultural understanding and to foster greater linkages among Nikkei. This website project helps the CJAHS pursue its mission to document, preserve, and share the history and legacy of Japanese Americans in Chicago. In addition, it enables us to reach broader audiences in global Nikkei communities and beyond.

Since 2005, the CJAHS has developed and contributed materials to the Discover Nikkei website, which allow users to access resources and materials that are related to the Nikkei. The CJAHS is pleased to announce that we were selected to participate in Phase II of the Discover Nikkei website project, which will continue until 2009.

The CJAHS has created an online version of its first travel exhibit "Japanese American Team Spirit: The Chicago Nisei Athletic Association." Another feature we contribute is "Voices of Chicago," a quarterly social commentary about Chicago's Nikkei experience. It is available in the “Community forum” section of the Discover Nikkei website as well as on the CJAHS website. The CJAHS is in the process of developing a Timeline/Nikkei Photo Album and plans to release it early next year.

The Discover Nikkei website project is coordinated by the National Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles. For more information about the website, please visit: http://www.discovernikkei.org.