Monument to Japanese American WWII detainees lists more than 125,000 names

Japanese Americans who were incarcerated on U.S. soil during World War II are being commemorated at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. A massive book, called the Ireichō, lists the names of the more than 125,000 people who were detained in the camps nationwide. It will be on display at the museum until Dec. 1. Visitors can honor detainees by leaving by a mark under their names using a Japanese stamp called a hanko. The project was conceived by a team of researchers led by a Buddhist priest at the University of Southern California and took more than three years to complete.

AP News

Located in the Japanese American National Museum in L.A., the Ireicho contains the names of 125,284 people of Japanese descent - many being U.S. citizens, who were removed from their homes and unjustly sent to 75 detention centers and prison camps throughout the western United States. (https://www.janm.org/exhibits/ireicho)

Surrounding the Ireicho are wooden markers with the detention center and incarceration site names and glass jars containing soil samples from all 75 sites. #ireicho #janm

Ireichō | Japanese American National Museum

Irei: National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration is a multi-faceted project to address the erasure of the identities of individuals of Japanese ancestry who experienced wartime incarceration and to expand the concept of what monument is through three distinct, interlinking elements: a sacred book of names as a monument (Ireicho), a website as a monument (Ireizo), and light sculptures as monuments (Ireihi).