The Japanese Emperor's Birthday Celebration was held on February 23 at the Japan Information Center, the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago. The distinguished guests from U.S.-Japan relations, cultural exchange, and education gathered to celebrate the Emperor's 64th birthday.

A Day of Remembrance (DOR) was held at the Chicago History Museum on February 18 to remember President Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, which made possible the incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans.

Psychology Professor Dana Nagata of the University of Michigan spoke about the impacts of incarceration on the nisei, sansei, and yonsei.

Under the theme “Together for a Brighter Tomorrow”, the 41st Lunar New Year Celebration was held on February 10 at Drury Lane in Oak Brook. This year, the Japanese American community took the role of host for the annual event of the Asian American Coalition of Chicago (AACC) for the first time in 10 years, and the event venue was filled with a lively atmosphere.
AACC President Megan Nakano said, “This year’s theme, ‘Together for a Brighter Tomorrow,’ is a reminder that some of our communities may be dismissed as statistically insignificant, together, Asians are the fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S. and cannot be ignored.”

    The eighth annual Heritage Japanese Language Speech Contest was held on February 4 at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago’s Japan Information Center. Twenty contestants from Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin competed with their Japanese language skills. The titles of the speeches reflected the contestants’ multiple language and cultural backgrounds which made their speeches very interesting.