Visiting the Kasai Japanese American Exhibit.

Tucked in the back of the fourth floor in the Marriott Library, is an exhibit of Utah history that isn’t the typical pioneer and wagon.

The Mitsugi M. Kasai Memorial Japanese American Archive, is an ongoing exhibit expanding from the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants and showcases the history of Japanese American culture to the present day. Lorraine Crouse, the photo archivist and curator of the exhibit, expands on the event taken place here.

Crouse: As an inaugural announcement to the community - not just the Japanese community, but to the community at large – we wanted to have a reception just to open it up and invite everybody into special collections so that they can get just a taste of what we have.

The exhibit is in honor of Mitsugi M. Kasai, for his dedication and his contribution in preserving Japanese American culture and history in Utah. The exhibit documents everything from railroad, mining, agricultural industries, Japantown and internment. These events are documented through journals, pictures, videos, and other historical artifacts.

The preservation of the culture is something Crouse feels strongly about.

Crouse: A lot of people have no idea the diversity that’s here. They forget that it was very diverse and I’ve had researchers say that before, there was no place on earth in the 1800s that had a constant- such a concentrated group of virtually every single ethnic group in one spot. And you wouldn’t think of that as happening here.

With recent events, Crouse notes that this exhibit is important, not only in conservation but in education.

Crouse: You kind of mentioned this racial profiling and you know, after 9/11 there was a lot of that. And I think that’s really why it’s important. You really have to learn from the past. If you just forget it, George Santayana has that famous quote, “Those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it.” And that’s really the importance of getting the students to know what happened.

The Mitsugi M. Kasai Memorial Exhibit will be held on the fourth floor of the Marriot Library until September 30th

From Salt Lake City, this is Cynthia Luu reporting