Kansha Project 2025 Culmination
Saturday, June 28 | 3:30 – 6:30pm
Midwest Buddhist Temple (435 W Menomonee St, Chicago, IL 60614)
The Kansha Project is a transformative program that provides young Japanese Americans the opportunity to learn about our community’s history, develop unique insights about our community’s legacy, and allows participants to explore their identity with other Japanese American young adults. In addition, 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 at large. Over the past twelve years, the Kansha Project has grown from a mere idea into a flagship program of JACL Chicago, sending over 100 alumni across ten cohorts to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and Manzanar National Historic Site. This year, the trip will take place from June 5-8 and celebrate the 2025 Kansha Project cohort with Culmination in Chicago on Saturday, June 28.
- Benjamin Barlow
- Darcy Combs
- Jacqueline Fowler
- Joshua Matsuura
- Christel Melingna Thompson
- Kayla Moy
- Emily Nishikimoto
- Sora Seals
- Katelin Teraoka Sasamoto-Kurisu
- Kendall Terashima
- Emily Mitose Umeda
We invite you to join us at Culmination to celebrate this year’s Kansha Project with the Kansha Alumni Leadership Board (ALB) and the 2025 program participants! Participants will share reflections of their experience of their trip to Little Tokyo, LA and Manzanar Historic Site and present their unique projects summarizing their experience to the community.
We hope you’ll join us for this celebration of community, youth leadership, and legacy.
Questions? Contact JACL Program Director, Rebecca Ozaki at kansha@jaclchicago.org. Learn more at https://jaclchicago.org/programs/kansha-project.