Located in Downtown’s historic Little Tokyo district, the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience national and international guests. JANM is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to telling the story of Americans of Japanese ancestry through historical and art exhibitions. Experience 130 years of the Japanese American history through the permanent exhibit, Common Ground: The Heart of Community. Travel through time beginning with the first generation, or Issei, pioneers through the World War II incarceration in internment camps, to the present.

On view through Oct. 28, hapa.me – 15 years of the hapa project is the continuation of artist Kip Fulbeck's project, begun in 2001, of photographing persons who identify as “hapa”—of mixed Asian/Pacific Islander descent—as a means of promoting awareness and positive acceptance of multiracial identity.

The Chinese American Museum (CAM) is the first museum in Southern California dedicated to examining the United States of America’s cultural and ethnic diversity by sharing the Chinese American experience and history. Symbolically located in the last surviving structure of Los Angeles’ original Chinatown, CAM seeks to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural legacy and continuing contributions of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles. The permanent exhibit, Origins: The Birth and Rise of Chinese American Communities in Los Angeles, provides insight into the growth and development of Chinese American enclaves from Downtown L.A. to the San Gabriel Valley. Over the years CAM has proven to be an excellent cultural resource for visitors and locals alike.

Opening May 2018, Don’t Believe the Hype: LA Asian Americans in Hip Hop looks at hip hop in Greater Los Angeles as a site of resistance, refuge, and reinvention for today’s Asian American communities. Don’t Believe the Hype brings together 14 of the most historic and important Asian Americans in the L.A. hip hop movement.

Located in the heart of one of the largest Korean American communities in the country, the Korean American National Museum was established to interpret and preserve Korean American history, culture and achievements. This museum is modest in size but large in its devotion to all things Korean. Exhibitions range from Korean American small businesses to spiritual practices, as well as art and history. With a focus on how Koreans have impacted Los Angeles and vice versa, the museum offers an in-depth perspective of Koreatown’s history and community.

Located at the intersection of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue, the future home of the Korean American National Museum is part of a seven-story mixed use project. The two-story, 30,000 square-foot museum is scheduled to open in 2019.

The largest art museum in the western United States, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) boasts an impressive collection of Asian and Pacific Islander art, including regions of China, Japan, Korea, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Most notably, LACMA features a dedicated Pavilion for Japanese Art, as well as an entire wing of Korean art in the Hammer Building. These significant Eastern artworks cover a broad range of historical periods from ancient to contemporary. The Asian and Pacific Island collection is one of the main reasons that LACMA attracts over a million visitors annually and garnered an international stature.

NOTE: the Pavilion for Japanese Art closed in February 2018 for a two-year restoration project. 

One of the world’s greatest cultural, research and educational centers, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens feature must-see gardens themed from around the world. With sights that engage all of the senses, the Huntington is an ever-changing exhibition of color and breathtaking scenery. Among the most popular attractions are the Chinese and Japanese gardens. The Chinese garden, known in Chinese as Liu Fang Yuan or the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, offers a glimpse into the traditional style of scholar gardens from Suzhou, China. The garden complex is complete with pavilions, a teahouse and tea shop, stone bridges and waterfalls that together comprise a scenery evoking tranquility. The Japanese Garden celebrated its centennial in April 2012 and includes a drum bridge, Japanese house, traditional Zen garden, expansive bonsai court, and a ceremonial teahouse and tea garden.

One of only four U.S. institutions dedicated to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands, the USC Pacific Asia Museum has a collection of more than 15,000 objects, spanning more than 4,000 years from the region of Persia to the Pacific Islands. Since 1971, the museum seeks to further intercultural understanding through its focus on classic and contemporary arts of Asia and the Pacific Islands. Housed in the Grace Nicholson building in Pasadena, the Chinese-inspired architecture is a registered California State Historic Landmark. The museum’s courtyard is inspired by the classic gardens of China, where architecture is in harmony with nature. Dragons, the most important of the mythical beasts, can be seen perched on the ends of the roof. Lotus and peony flowers are strewn throughout, providing a visual feast for the eyes to all visitors.

Now on view through June 10, Winds from Fusang: Mexico and China in the Twentieth Century is the first major exhibition on the heretofore unexamined influence of Mexican art and artists on the development of art in China in the twentieth century. The exhibition, its accompanying publication, and public programs will present the trans-Pacific ties between the creative communities of Mexico and China in the last century.

Named for the billionaire industrialist and philanthropist, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena houses a collection of about 12,000 objects that includes the only painting by Raphael on the west coast, three portraits by Rembrandt, six superb paintings by Van Gogh, over one hundred works by Degas, and an important collection of Indian and Southeast Asian sculpture that spans over 2,500 years of the world’s finest cultural creations.

Currently on view at the Norton Simon, In Search of New Markets: Craft Traditions in 19th Century India explores the historical sources and practices that informed the production of ceramics and wooden furniture in colonial India. The exhibition, which marks the first time that several of these works have been on view at the museum, also reveals the distinctly modern modes of promotion and distribution that were used to generate demand for them.

The Fowler Museum at UCLA explores global arts and cultures with an emphasis on past and present works from Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas. The collections from Insular Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and aboriginal Taiwan are among the strongest in the United States. The Indonesian and Philippine textiles reinforce the Fowler Museum's standing as a major repository for the textile arts. Also included are significant collections of sculptural material from Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Luzon, puppetry from Java and Bali, basketry from Indonesia and Philippines, and metalwork from the Philippines. The collections from mainland Asia are smaller but growing rapidly. A collection of betel-chewing paraphernalia, representing several countries in South and Southeast Asia, is considered one of the finest in the world. Other holdings include textiles from Bhutan, Pakistan, India and Japan, baskets and decorative arts from Japan, puppetry from China, Thailand, India, and Turkey, and art and artifacts from Nepal.