The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation will host groups from Japan to share information about the World War II incarceration camp next year, thanks to a $158,622 grant from The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation.
“We at Heart Mountain have long aspired to deepen our connections with Japanese institutions and attract more Japanese visitors to our state and our site,” said HMWF Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin. “This grant opens up an array of opportunities that we are excited to pursue.”
The program, called “Educators in Exchange: Bridging US-Japan Education on Japanese American Incarceration,” will help bring one group of university students and a separate group of university professors and museum professionals from Japan to Heart Mountain, where more than 14,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during WWII. The exchange will occur in fall 2026.
Each group will spend a week engaging in site tours, collections-based activities, and a training workshop with HMWF staff, former incarcerees and camp descendants. HMWF’s Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) Coordinator Haruka Takaku and Education Manager Sybil Kawano will co-develop the curriculum, translating existing materials into Japanese and adapting lesson plans in ways that will engage learners in Japan.
Following the visits by Japanese educators, museum professionals and students, HMWF will send a delegation of four staff plus one board member to Japan to conduct workshops at the partner universities and experience the partner museums.