The transformative program from JACL Chicago will hold its Culmination Event on June 29.
By Ayako Tischler, MDC Youth Representative
The Kansha Project is a transformative program from JACL Chicago that provides young Japanese Americans, ages 18-25, in the Midwest with the opportunity to learn about our community’s history, develop unique insights about our community’s legacy and allow participants to explore their identity with other Japanese American young adults.
Participants engage in an in-depth examination of the World War II confinement site experience through an immersive educational trip to Los Angeles’ historic Little Tokyo neighborhood and Manzanar National Historic Site. Through workshops with local experts and community activists, historical tours and group reflections, participants work to interpret and promote the stories, lessons and legacy of the Japanese American confinement site experience.
Upon returning from the trip, participants share reflections on their experience and present creative and heartfelt projects summarizing their experience to the wider community. The Kansha Project provides an entry point for community engagement and a pathway for youth leadership that is vital to the future of the Japanese American community.
As we approach the 12th trip of the Kansha Project in June, we’d like to take the time to uplift our alumni and ask for your support to help fund this important initiative.
Our alumni are part of what makes the Kansha Project so special to our community. The three core tenets that represent the Kansha Project are legacy, gratitude and remembrance. We would like to share how Kansha alumni continue to uphold these values.
Kansha alumni Katie Masano Hill at JANM in Little Tokyo (Photo: Courtesy of Kansha Project)
Katie Masano Hill served on the Kansha Alumni Leadership Board in 2023, and we are proud of the work that she continues to do for our community. It is through the donations and support of JACL members that the program flourishes and enables participants to grow and become active members of our community.
Read how Kansha impacted Katie:
Hello! My name is Katie Masano Hill, and I am currently a senior social major at Valparaiso University and an incoming graduate student at the University of Oklahoma’s Masters of Museum Studies Program. As a fifth-generation descendant of family members incarcerated at Tule Lake and Heart Mountain, I am incredibly passionate about honoring the legacies of our ancestors and ensuring they are never forgotten.
I have been privileged to make this mission part of my life in several ways, including participating in the Kansha Project in 2022, serving on the ALB in 2023, receiving the honorable Chiye Tomihiro Memorial Scholarship from JACL Chicago, taking a pilgrimage to Heart Mountain and conducting qualitative research related to violence, suicide and improper mental health treatment during incarceration based on my own family’s experience.
To me, Kansha has provided the opportunity to process intergenerational trauma and bring healing to myself while reinforcing my role in the Japanese American community. In the future, I hope to continue working with this amazing community by conducting archival research and studying War Relocation Authority records to bring healing and justice to those affected by wartime incarceration.
The Kansha Project would not be possible without the generous donations from our community. Your donation of any amount will impact the continuity of the Kansha Project. Please mail checks to JACL Chicago at 5415 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640 with “Kansha Project” in the memo.
Online donations can be made at https://donorbox.org/2023-kansha-project.
