LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Japanese American National Museum will commemorate 10 years of its programs and projects since the opening of its Pavilion in 1999, beginning with a special event focused on its core exhibition, Common Ground: The Heart of Community, set for Sunday, January 25, 2009, at the National Museum in Little Tokyo.

The program, "10th Anniversary of the Opening of Common Ground: The Heart of Community", will look at the development of the National Museum’s core exhibition, which provides the broad outline of the history of the Japanese in the United States, beginning in the 19th Century. The program will then evolve into an open discussion relating to a new core exhibition that the Museum intends to create to replace Common Ground.

Since 1999, thousands of students, families and individuals have taken guided tours and/or visited the three main gallery spaces devoted to Common Ground. With the opening of the Pavilion, the National Museum gained more than three times the gallery space it had in its Historic Building, a former Buddhist temple that was renovated and opened in 1992.

Museum staff members Chris Komai and Lisa Sasaki will explain, in turn, the development of Common Ground, and what current ideas and partnerships exist today that were not available or prominent 10 years ago. There are also technical advances that could make information more plentiful and easier to access today than was possible in 1999.

The program will include time for smaller group discussions about the future of the Japanese American community. Currently, only three major Japanese American enclaves exist in California today: Little Tokyo in Los Angeles; Nihonmachi in San Francisco; and Japantown in San Jose. Each faces its own challengers and prospects for the future.

The National Museum will feature several special events related to the 10 years of projects, exhibitions and programs since the Pavilion opened to the public on January 25, 1999. On April 25, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, the National Museum will hold its Annual Gala Dinner, "The Pavilion—Home, Community, History: Celebrating Ten Years of Building A Legacy". Other events, including a gathering in the summer, will also mark the decade of programs.