5:00 p.m. (CT) Reception | 6:00 p.m. (CT) Presentation and Screening

Join The National WWII Museum, in partnership with the Japan Society of New Orleans, to commemorate the Day of Remembrance, a day of observance for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, with a special screening of the documentary short A Flicker of Eternity.

A Flicker in Eternity tells the true story of Stanley Hayami, a talented Japanese American teenager caught between his dream of becoming an artist and his duty to his country. Based on Hayami’s WWII diary and letters archived at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, this coming-of-age tale chronicles Hayami’s life behind barbed wire at Heart Mountain incarceration camp and later as a soldier with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Co-directors Ann Kaneko and Sharon Yamato, working with producer Joanne Oppenheim, capture Hayami’s humor and imagination through endearing cartoons and witty observations that provide a firsthand look at the indignity of incarceration and the tragedy of war. Watch the film's trailer here.

Ahead of the screening, Yamato will discuss the documentary with Judge Fred Fujioka, whose father, William Fujioka, was a cousin of Hayami and served with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd, a segregated Japanese American unit, is remembered today for its brave actions in World War II and for being the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of the US military.

The Day of Remembrance is observed on February 19, the anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1942 signing of Executive Order 9066, which forcibly relocated more than 100,000 West Coast residents of Japanese descent, the majority of them American citizens, into incarceration camps.

Registration is required for this event, and space is limited. For additional information, please contact Maggie Hartley, EdD, Director of Public Engagement, at maggie.hartley@nationalww2museum.org.

The Japan Society of New Orleans brings together the leaders of our community who have a vital interest in, and appreciation for, the history, culture, government, and economic achievement of Japan, and provides and fosters understanding, commerce, and good-will between the peoples of Japan and the United States. Formed in 1928, they are the sixth-oldest Japan America Society in the United States. Learn more about the Japan Society of New Orleans here.

Thank you to the Japan Foundation of New York for their support of this program.